Rory felt a bit lightheaded as she entered the party and saw Madeline and Louise. "Hey! You came!" Madeline greeted her. "Are you ready to party?" It seemed to Rory like Madeline had come up with the canned greeting because it was easy enough to remember when she wasn't able to walk a straight line anymore. "Sure." Rory said. "I'm thirsty." Madeline pointed in one direction and Louise in another. "Over there." they said in unison, then giggled. Rory shook her head and began to question why she had come.
She saw Lane dancing with Henry Cho, a Korean guy in Rory's literature class. Rory pulled her latest book, "My Antonia," out of her purse. She found an empty room, miraculously, and then sat down to read her book. She was deep into the novel when someone entered the room. It was Tristin. His eyes were a bit bloodshot, and he looked like he had been kicked while he was down.
"Hi." he greeted Rory dejectedly, sitting down on the piano bench next to Rory. "Hey." she replied sympathetically. "What's wrong?"
"Summer dumped me."
"Ah." Rory had sort of expected this, but not this soon.
"King Tristin has been dethroned. Are you happy now?" he asked in a tired voice.
"No, I'm not happy about it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Why aren't you happy? I thought that you didn't like me; that the world would be a better place if I fell off the face of it."
Rory was saddened that although Tristin was a little to presumptuous and arrogant for his own good, he believed that others hated him that much.
"The world would have been a better place if say, Adolph Hitler had fallen off the face of it, but not you, Tristin. You underestimate yourself."
"Really? Or are you saying that because you're just a nice person?"
"Tristin, I meant it. This is how people become suicidal. They degrade themselves and tell themselves they're not worth it. That they deserve to die. And it's just not true." Rory realized now that Tristin's face was dangerously close to hers. Did he intend to kiss her?
He did indeed. And the odd thing was, as their lips met, that she didn't pull away.
