New Neighbours
Chapter Fifteen: Wonder Boy

Rory rolled over in her bed as she felt the sun beating down on her from her window. She groaned and pulled her covers up over her head and tried to lose herself to sleep again. She had almost accomplished just that when she felt someone move behind her. She popped one eye open and moved her leg behind her, squeaking when it brushed up against something. The sun was forgotten and also the coldness of her room as Rory sat up in bed and turned around to see who or what was behind her. She relaxed when she saw it was only her sleeping mom and lay back down.

"Well if I have to be up so do you," she grumbled and turned on her side and started to repeatedly poke her mom in the side.

Lorelai tried to ignore her daughter but after a while her arm started to hurt and so she flicked Rory's hand away and opened her eyes. "What was that for?" she asked, yawning.

Rory just smiled evilly and bypassed her question by asking one of her own. "What are you doing in my bed?"

Lorelai pushed herself up so she was leaning back against the headboard. She looked down at the clock on Rory's bedside table and moaned at how early it was. "Lilly told me about wonder boy," she said, grinning at Rory's confused expression.

"Wonder boy?" she repeated, her tone questioning.

Lorelai laughed and nudged Rory. "Yeah you know Tristin," she clarified.

Rory couldn't stop the smile from coming onto her face. She'd pretty much forgotten about the night before but now she remembered it perfectly. She almost thought it was a dream, nothing could be that perfect. It must have just been one of those really vivid dreams where you can feel his lips and smell his hair, one equipped with surround sound. But Rory knew it wasn't a dream and that made it so much more exciting.

She broke out of her trance when she saw her mom's hand pass over her eyes and then again. She blushed a tiny, tiny bit and looked at her mom, recalling her earlier words. "Wonder boy?" she asked again.

Lorelai laughed. "Yeah the boy who chased you all the way back to your house and then left you with a googly eyed look!" she said, her tone high pitched and girly.

It was Rory's turn to laugh. She loved having Lorelai as her mom because she was also a best friend. She couldn't think of any other parent who would get so excited over their daughter liking a boy. Ever since she could remember Lorelai had been part of the gang, watching movies with them, shopping with them and talking about stupid things and then the really important things with them.

"You haven't even met him and you have a nickname for him?" Rory asked.

Lorelai looked affronted by Rory's words and she held her hand to her heart. "How dare you not remember!" she exclaimed. "I met that young boy before you did," she told Rory.

Rory thought about that for a moment before she pouted. "Oh right," she said simply.

Lorelai flicked her head suddenly like she was pushing that topic away, and a large smile spread across her features. "So…When you going ask him out?" she enquired in a teasing manner.

Rory shot a look at her. "Never!" she exclaimed.

"What? Why?" Lorelai asked with a confused expression on her face.

"I can't ask him out on a date!" Rory admonished her. Even though the thought of the night before and the amazing two kisses she'd shared with Tristin were enough to have her melting into the ground, the thought of actually asking him out terrified her.

Lorelai smiled at Rory's predicament. She knew what was happening and she couldn't be happier for Rory, because she was finally falling for a guy…the right guy. "But you can't wait for him to ask you," she offered. "I mean what if he's scared to?"

"I'm not scared!" Rory told her, mulling over that notion in her head.

"You're not? Huh I could have swore I saw fear cross your face when I mentioned the word date…" Lorelai said in a very non committed way as the door opened and Lilly walked through, her uniform already on.

"What about a date?" Lilly asked, sitting down beside Rory.

Rory pulled her covers back over her head. "Go away, both of you," she mumbled.

"Fine, but only because I have work," Lorelai said and then jumped off the bed and walked over to Lilly. "Help her out with this," she whispered into her ear and Lilly nodded. "Bye babes!" Lorelai called before she skipped out of the room.

Lilly pulled on Rory's blankets and then tugged Rory up into a sitting position. "Come on now, sis. We've got school and you've got a very cute, future boyfriend waiting for you there."

---

Rory and Lilly stepped out of there car and into the North Brooke parking lot. They'd both dressed more appropriately for the November chill in the air and so they weren't that cold. As they walked to the front doors they caught up with Maddy and Nikki who were leaning against the wall listening to Roxanne talk to some girl beside her.

"I can't wait until Christmas break," she said looking up as a guy walked by her, tripping slightly over the steps into the school. "Dad's taking me to Paris."

Lilly and Rory stopped in front of her. "Aww...vacationing with your dad?" Lilly asked.

Roxanne looked at her and smirked bringing her hand up to her hair and playing with it. "Not that it's any of your business, but yes I am. Like I'm going to stay here and freeze during the winter," she grumbled.

Rory stepped forward a bit, glad for this distraction from her Tristin centered thoughts. "Wouldn't you go to like Florida then? Paris gets cold during the winter."

Roxanne had no comment for that and so she just sneered at them and then walked away with the other girl following her. Maddy and Nikki came up to them, shaking their hands, having heard the whole thing.

The four girls made their way inside the building, walking towards their lockers. Rory half expected Tristin to be hanging around her locker and when she saw that he wasn't her face fell a bit before she covered it up.

They all opened their lockers and grabbed their books. "So I guess I'll see you guys in second period?" Rory asked and they all nodded before walking off in the opposite direction. Rory had a different class for first period but the rest of there schedules were the same.

She was just about to walk down the hall when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Turning around she felt her heart speed up and her lips twitch into a smile as she stared into Tristin's deep blue eyes.

"Hey Mary," he said, trying his best to sound really cool but on the inside he was freaking out and all he wanted to do was kiss her again.

"Tristin," she said her nervousness from this morning coming back tenfold.

They stood there for a minute or two in silence that was more uneasy then comfortable until Tristin spoke up. "So what do you have first period?" he asked.

Rory smiled and pointed her hand down the hall to an open door. "History. What about you?"

"Chemistry," Tristin said but he corrected himself. "But not today though because I have to meet the coach," he told her.

Rory started feeling a bit more relaxed. She could tell he was nervous to and knowing that, well it made this a lot easier. "Well have fun, I guess," she told him. She was going to leave but she couldn't get her feet to move away from him.

"Yeah you to," he replied good-naturedly.

Rory laughed again and pushed her hair behind her ear. "Not likely. I don't get history," she told him.

Tristin felt his regular self returning and so he leaned in closer to her. "Well maybe I can be your study partner," he told her a genuine smile on his face.

Rory smiled at his suggestion and lowered her head, looking up at him through hooded eyes. "I don't see how that would work out considering you're not in the class," she said, wanting to stay and talk to him.

Tristin smirked. "Well I wasn't thinking we would actually study," he told her.

Even though Rory didn't want to she felt her cheeks turning pink as a couple of images popped into her head. She shook it trying to clear them. "So…what's up?" she asked, wanting to change the subject.

Tristin ran a hand through his hair again. "Well actually… my friend Brad's having this party and…"

"Brad?" Rory asked, cutting him off. She remembered Brad and sure he'd been kind of okay while they were at Tank but he'd really been mostly an ass the whole night.

"Yeah he's not really that friendly but he's having this party on Saturday and I was wondering if you were doing anything because if you aren't then maybe you could come with me? But I understand if you don't want to I mean you don't really like Brad and you probably have plans…but if you don't?" Tristin finally managed to get out and when he saw her amused expression he laughed a little. "And thanks for letting me ramble on like that."

Rory felt her whole body react to his question, her heart pounding, her smiled widening, her stomach fluttering and her knees weakening. She focussed on the last thing he said though. "I always thought rambling was a different kind of art form."

Tristin smirked and then snapped his head up when he heard the bell ring, signalling the beginning of first period. "So, will you go with me?" he asked, trying not to let his hope shine though in his voice.

Rory nodded her head. "I will," she said leaning forwards a tiny bit and placing a sweet kiss on his lips. "I'll see you in third period," she breathed in front of him before turning around and walking off.

Tristin stood there smiling like a love-struck fool for a little less then a minute, watching her until she disappeared into her history class. He then turned around and walked towards the gym where he had to meet the coach, his smile never fading.

---

"I don't think the teachers ever gone on like this before," Nikki complained as she rested her chin in the palm of her hand, listening to their geography teacher drone on and on.

"I know it's like he's going for the world record or something," Maddy added, continuously clicking her pen, trying to keep herself awake.

Lilly looked up from her position slouched on her desk and raised her head. "I think I'm going to fall asleep," she said and then turned to her side to see Rory was staring out the window. "What's it like where you are?" she asked leaning closer to her desk, Nikki and Maddy turning around to face them.

Rory broke out of her trance and smiled at them. "Sorry, I was just…I was…nothing."

The three of them exchanged looks and leaned closer to Rory. "Come on girl spill!" Nikki encouraged.

Rory laughed and bit at her nail before answering. "Tristin asked me out," she told them quietly and they all shrieked, getting a glare from the teacher.

"You like Tristin," Maddy said in a singsongy voice twirling one of her braids around her finger absentmindedly. Sometime in the first forty minutes of class Rory and Lilly had filled them in on what had happened the night before and they were all left jealous of how perfect Rory and Tristin's relationship was.

"I do. Wow I can't believe this, I mean I though it would be weird admitting that I really do like him but I don't know…it feels different," she told them, trying to think of how to explain it.

"Different how?" Maddy asked crossing her arms in front of her, hooking them around the chair.

Rory tilted her head to the sound and brought her hand up, tapping her pen against her head. "Usually it's just this attraction but with Tristin it's more. I mean, a couple days ago it scared me to even think about how much I liked Tristin but now," she whispered dreamily. "I can't even wait until the next time I see him."

"Oh, wow!" Maddy exclaimed looking over her shoulder at Jaimie who was leaned back in his chair across the room. Just when he was about to turn his head the bell rang and everyone started to pack up their stuff.

Maddy started walking out of the classroom; she was watching the ground though careful of the spilt pop covering the floor. She smiled thinking back to when she'd came went to walk into class. The heel on her boot had slipped on the pop and she'd lost her balance but before she could fall Jaimie had snaked an arm around her waist, keeping her steady.

She was so caught up in that particular memory that she didn't even noticed she was about to walk into a group of people. When she happened to look up she was inches away from some guys face and she squeaked, moving backwards. Suddenly she felt a hand encase hers and tug her out of the group. Maddy looked up into the soft brown eyes she'd already memorized and she smiled.

"Hey," she said, looking down at theirs hands that were still joined.

Jaimie smiled back at her. "Hey yourself."

Maddy looked into his eyes again and cocked her head to the side. "Wow you really do like saving me," she threw out there.

Jaimie shrugged. "I was just walking to my next class," he told her smoothly.

"You weren't like watching out for me or anything?" Maddy asked, inching a bit closer to him.

"Is there a reason for me to do that?" he asked, smiling.

"You tell me mystery boy, do you have a thing for the damsel in distress?" she asked him.

Jaimie leaned down, his hot breath tickling her ear as he spoke into it. "Maybe."

Maddy's breath caught in her throat at his words. "Really?" she asked coyly.

Jaimie smiled down at the blonde and averted his gaze for a split second before meeting her eyes again. "Did you talk to Rory yet?" he asked, stalling the conversation so he could think of how he was going to ask her out.

Madelyn smiled brightly, her pearly white teeth shining up at him. "Of course," she replied, rolling her eyes jokingly. "She's practically on cloud nine, what with Tristin asking her out and all."

"I know I saw him in the hall. The guys so obvious," Jaimie exclaimed.

"Well not obvious enough for Rory," she laughed, feeling herself completely relax with him.

"She does know he likes her right?" he verified.

Maddy laughed. "Of course she does!" she told him. "But other then that she's totally oblivious."

Jaimie followed her lead, letting a low chuckle out. He couldn't help but notice the resemblance this conversation held to their first one at the club. "So about the party…" he trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging.

Maddy's smile grew and she felt he hope bubble to the surface. "Yeah?"

"I was going to ask you to go with me but…"

At his words Maddy instantly deflated. She tried hard to keep her smile on hr face but failed. "Hey listen don't worry about it..." she started mumbling incoherently.

While at the same time Jaimie kept talking. "But I can't go to the party so I was thinking maybe…" Jaimie took his free hand and ran it through his hair. "What are you doing Friday night?"

"...it is Brad's party and all so..." Madelyn's head suddenly snapped up to look at him. "Friday night?" she asked, dumbfounded, with a new hope rising to the surface.

Jaimie laughed at how cute she was when confused. "Yeah, what are you doing Friday night?" he repeated, feeling a lot more nervous then he was comfortable with.

Maddy smiled, blinking her eyes in rapid succession. "Why?"

Jaimie smiled embarrassedly at her and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Well I was thinking we could maybe go to dinner or something," he let on.

"You're asking me out," Maddy stated.

"That I am," he said, encouraged by the smile she was giving him. "Do you wanna go out with me Friday night?"

Maddy suddenly cringes and smacks her hand against her forehead. "Oh no! I'm sorry I can't!" she exclaimed.

Jaimie looked surprised for a moment. "Well that's okay," he said, backing away a little bit.

Maddy grabbed his hand that was slipping out of hers. "No, it's just we're throwing Nikki's birthday party on Friday. It's early because her birthdays not until December 8th but she always expects something so it's a surprise this year…" Maddy rambled on.

Jaimie interrupted her by holding up his hand. "It's okay," he told her.

"You know, you could come if you want to," she said sweetly.

Jaimie shook his head. "I don't want to intrude," he explained.

"You wouldn't be!" she rushed to assure him. "You would be my date..."

Jaimie once again was surprised but he nodded finally. "All right. Sure," he smiled at her, rubbing his thumb against her palm.

Madelyn smiles back and lets her attention drift to around her and notices the halls are completely empty. Her eyes widened in disbelief and she motions over her shoulder, indicating that she has to go and Jaimie nods, releasing her hand. She turns around and starts walking down the hall, smiling widely.

"A date," she giggled to herself.

---

Rory was sitting in her third period class; way at the back in her usual seat except this time Tristin was sitting beside her. As the teacher stood up at started to write out some note for the projector Rory leaned over and nudged Tristin.

Tristin hadn't been paying attention to anything the teacher had been saying. If you asked him he wouldn't even be able to tell you what class this was. All this thoughts were centered around a certain brunette and the party on Saturday night where he would play her date. He only broke out of this thought when he felt a poke in his shoulder and he turned around, smiling when he saw Rory with her elbows planted on her legs and her chin resting in her palms.

"Hey," he whispered to her, turning in his chair so he could see her better.

"Hi," she said back and turned her attention to Nikki who was sitting a couple seats over. She made sure she wasn't listening before turning back to Tristin. "So…you hear about Nikki's party?" she asked, hoping he'd say no because it was supposed to be on the down low.

Tristin thought about it for a moment before he shook his head. "When is it?" he asked.

"Friday…I was wondering if you wanted to go?" she asked.

Tristin smiled huge at that invitation. He'd been counting down the minutes practically to Saturday night but now he only had to wait till Friday. "Sure."

Rory just sort of looked at him for a moment. "Great," she said, and then rolled her eyes. "Nikki's so spoiled though…I mean I'm going and I have to cook!" she complained in a teasing manner, obviously not meaning any of it.

"You're cooking?" Tristin asked, for some reason knowing that should scare him.

Rory tilted her head to the side and looked at him cutely. "Well not really," she told him, furrowing her brows. "I have to bring the cake."

"Oh well I can see why you're so distraught," he teased her, laughing lowly.

Rory glared at him. "I can't just go buy a cake," she said.

"Can't you just get the cook to make it for you," he said like it was the smartest idea in the world.

"Nope. We want it to be personal," she said just as the bell rung and their teacher let a very audible curse. Rory could only guess he hadn't finished copying out what he needed done.

They all started to walk out of class, Rory running into one of her other friends who was helping them organize the party. "Hey Alex!" she greeted, smiling as Tristin fell into step with her.

"Rory, hi," he greeted her and then turned to Tristin and offered his hand. "Alex," he said even though Tristin already knew that.

"Tristin," he stated his own name and shook the guys' hand.

"So has our birthday girl found out yet?" Alex asked.

"Not even a little bit," Rory chimed in, looking over her shoulder and seeing Nikki coming up behind them. "Here she comes," she told the guys and pressed a finger to her lips. "Shh!"

Alex grinned and turned around walking backwards. "Nikki, how about this year we get rid of birthday beats altogether?" he shouted getting some odd looks from passing people.

Nikki looked at him oddly. "And what would you replace them with?" she asked him but when he opened his mouth she pressed her hand over it. "On second thought I don't wanna know."

"Fine but you don't know what you're missing," Alex said in an odd voice.

The others laughed and they all walked into the cafeteria. Naturally they all sat down at the nearest table and continued on with their discussion. No one seems to notice the many stares they're getting from other people in the cafeteria, especially from Alicia who was sitting at Tristin's regular table.

Alex who had left to go get food, just sat back down beside Nikki. He waved his plate of fish sticks under her nose teasingly but it didn't have the desired effect as she wrinkled her nose up and pushed them away in disgust. "Eww," she told him simply.

Alex just smiled and then looked down at his plate. "You know I had this really odd dream last night," he announced, gathering everyone's attention.

"Really?" Nikki asked, sounding interested.

"Yeah it was something about this guy," he told them vaguely and they all rolled their eyes. It was just like Alex to bring something up that sounds interesting and then leave them with nothing.

Nikki looked over at Alex who was happily chopping away at the battered fish and she finally gave in. "Would you tell us already!" she exclaimed.

"Well fine, if you want to know so badly," he said, grinning. "The guy was this superhero. Total Batman meets Clark Kent, undercover one," he explained. "And he was all, 'I'm gonna take over the world!'" he shouts a tad loud and gets a lot of stares. "But me being there, with my fine martial arts moves," he boasted striking a small pose. "I saved the world and won the girls heart!" he concluded, smirking proudly.

"Is that it?" Lilly asked making everyone at the table jump. She had been standing behind them with Blake, both watching Alex with amusement and slight fear.

"Yep, that's it," he chuckles.

Blake sat down at the end of the circular table and tugged Lilly onto his lap. "Probably the next big motion picture," Lilly said, laying her arm on Blake's shoulder, while his were looped around her waist. "What girl was it?" she asked.

Alex looked confused for a second before his eyes cleared. "A toss up. Half Jennifer Garner and half Beyoncé."

Everyone laughed at the picture they all got in their minds. The table soon tuned into a short silence that was anything but awkward. Everyone seemed to be really comfortable with each other. The silence stayed until Lilly looked up and snapped her fingers at Rory to get her attention. "Hey listen! Are exam is coming up so I was thinking tonight we should study science."

Rory nodded. "Sure," she exclaimed.

Nikki nodded her head in agreement. "I might have to join you guys. I want to pass these exams that way I won't have to actually take the courses again," she explained.

"Wow, is Nikki actually making some kind of effort to pass?" he asked everyone, pretending to be shocked. "Everyone hurry get your camera's, it's a Kodak moment!" he yelled pretending to flash pictures.

Nikki glared at him. "Alex, you know you might want to take a page from my book," she told.

"Why would I do that?" he asked, clearly confused.

"So that you can get out of this school faster," she said like he should have known that.

None of them notice Headmaster Charleston walk into the cafeteria and start walking straight to their table.

Meanwhile, Alex leant towards her a little. "I like this school. You've got plenty of beautiful ladies," he purred.

Nikki slapped his arm trying to get him away from her. "Is this your lame attempt at flirting?" she asked. "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend!"

"Oh you'll pay for that!" he yells, grabbing onto her wrist and started tickling her.

"Stop!" Nikki laughs but her struggling is getting weaker by the second as she starts laughing. "Don't!"

"Stop that this instant!" Charleston boomed as he stopped behind them and instantly Alex's hand released Nikki's arm and they backed away. Charleston glares at them and then turns his attention to Lilly. "And you! What's wrong? The chairs in this room not suitable for you?"

Lilly looks confused. "I really don't have a problem with them…" she starts but then grasps what he means and slides herself off of Blake's lap and onto a free chair. "Oh," she mumbles lowly.

Charleston crossed his arms in front of him and his face was slowly turning red with anger as he prepared himself to lecture them. "I was sure the students in this school knew that we don't tolerate public displays of affection here!" he thought aloud. "This isn't a dance club, it's a learning environment."

"Not much learning going on in the cafeteria," Rory commented.

Charleston glares at her. "What was that Miss. Hayden?" he questioned, but Rory just rolled her eyes. "It better have been nothing, because if it wasn't you'd be facing a pretty hefty detention."

Rory smiled innocently at his idle threat. Charleston was a man of words not actions. "It was nothing, sir," she told him, and he quickly walked off.

Alex was the first to speak after Mr. Charleston left. "Okay so maybe he's one reason I would want to leave this school," he admitted.

Nikki laughed. "I know, I mean he hates kids! Why the hell would he take a headmaster job?" she asked.

Lilly smirked. "To make our lives miserable. Not that it works, I love to torment him," she added perkily.

Rory laughed agreeing with her. She turned too looked at Tristin who had threaded their hands together and had them resting on his knee. She smiled at that and squeezed his hand. She liked this. Them hanging out together, with her friends and his friends and it not being awkward. She'd been a little freaked about how they would mesh in each others lifestyles but it seemed to be going pretty well right now…she'd just have to wait 'til the weekend to know for sure.

---

I have to give credit where credit is due and so the inspiration from this chapter came from my Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon I had on the weekend with my friends. So just to let you know I don't own that show or the characters or the plot. Anyway thanks for the reviews everyone, you guys are totally awesome.

The next chapter will be Nikki's surprise party and if I can fit it in the party Saturday night…but I don't know. Anyway R&R!

-Ella