A/N: And I have updated. Thanks for the reviews everyone! You guys are lovely. This has kind of been the only story I've been able to write this week, because I have so much writer's block for everything else. So, consider yourselves lucky. Okay, enough of me blabbering on and on with the story.

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Rory awoke the next morning with a slight headache. Or was it? She looked up at the ceiling and was immediately shocked by a bright light that was surrounding her, and it did not look welcoming. She rolled over, thinking it was her bed at home, and it was bigger. Since this was a college-dorm mattress, it was small, so instead of rolling over, she fell on the floor, entangled in a sea of sheets.

"Now, that's a photo moment."

She groaned, recognizing Jess' voice. She would recognize it anywhere by now. "Light bad. Kill Jess. Turn...off."

"I'm sorry, but the only way I could wake you up without violating your personal space, was to place a flashlight in front of your face. I thought that the light would eventually give you a headache, and you would wake up." Jess said impatiently.

Rory frowned, opening her eyes slightly. "Wow, you're so smart. So, now that you've proved that fact, will you help me get up?"

Jess smirked, walking over to where she was lying. Rory took her hands out of the mess and held them out. He grabbed them and pulled so she would stand up, even though her feet were still covered with the white sheets.

"Thanks." She muttered grumpily.

He nodded, walking over to pick up his backpack. "Why are you in a bad mood?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because its…what…five o'clock in the morning!" Rory grabbed her watch and shoved it in his face. "I don't know what you're used to, but that's a no-no in my book."

"I'll store that information for future reference. Now, get changed so we can go and have breakfast."

Rory smiled to herself. "Coffee."

She walked around the small dorm, grabbing the clothes that she had picked for the day, and when she was finally done she sighed. "Okay, now that I am fully awake we can go." Jess gave her a slight smile and a nod, and walked out the door, assuming she would follow.

Rory sighed, grabbing a pad and a pencil.

He looked at her with a furrowed brow. "You plan on taking notes?"

"Well, how will I learn anything? And study?"

"I thought the purpose for this was to have fun."

She shook her head stubbornly. "Of course not. It's for Chilton, Jess. And I'm sure you remember what that requires. Now, I should take notes just in case they ask questions." She suddenly stopped abruptly and looked at a bench that had carvings on it. "This looks like it's important."

Jess looked at the bench. "It's a bench. I don't think it has any other purpose but for it to have people's butts all over it all day."

"It has to have some history or something."

He shrugged. "I don't know, Rory. I'm hungry. Can we go?"

Rory crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not moving until I hear a story."

Jess rolled his eyes, pondering this for a moment. "Um, Ben Franklin read a book on it….and then George Washington came over to him and they made a secret handshake."

Rory looked at him sternly. "That sucked."

"I'm hungry."

"The times aren't even correct." She went on.

He sighed, and took her by the arm. "This is not going to become a habit. I will not stop at every single bench and tell you if someone stood on it or did something historical. In fact, all of this tour will consist of is dried up cornflakes and an Oliver Twist book."

Rory raised an eyebrow. "What?"

He smirked, and pulled out his bag. He took out a handful of old cereal and then put it back in, and then he took out a book with the title of Oliver Twist clear on the cover. "I do not lie."

"I'm not even going to ask why you have that in your bag."

They made their way to where they would be eating, and Rory couldn't help but smile the whole way. Jess made many stops on the way, saying hi to so many people she couldn't even count. He must be popular, then. But, that wasn't the case, she saw. Every other girl, she could tell that was sending her death glares. Was it because Jess was holding her arm subconsciously? Or was it because they didn't like her outfit? Her guess was the first one. And that was why. He was rich and handsome, people liked him and looked up to him because of that.

But, why hadn't she seen that? Was she the only person that would hang around with him just because of some of the things he does? Or maybe it was possible that she was just as shallow as every girl that looked at him with a dreamy look.

She gave up the fight with herself when they finally made it to the eating area. Jess let go of her then, and she couldn't help but looking at the exact place that he had been touching at that moment.

Jess looked at her curiously. "So, where do you want to start?"

Rory, kind of zoned out, snapped out of it. "Oh. Right. Food. Um, I'm not really hungry. But, I could do for cereal? Anything but what's in your bag." She cringed, and he chuckled.

He nodded. "Okay…" Then, she noticed that he was eyeing a girl near the cereal bar. "I'll go get it and you can get a table."

Rory felt a little bit of jealousy in the pit of her stomach. "You sure?"

"Oh yeah. I know just what to get."

She couldn't help but notice that he was still looking at that redheaded girl. But, she agreed and went to look for an empty table. When she was seated, and looking through her purse, she saw that Jess had brought the redhead right to their table.

Jess cleared his throat. "Rory."

Rory looked up, "Hi." That sounded like the most stupid thing she could've said.

"Sydney, Rory. Rory, Sydney."

Sydney smiled at her, she knew she was just being nice. "Hello."

"Hi." Why was she being so dumb? It was the only thing that she had said in the last two seconds.

Jess raised an eyebrow. "Sydney, I'm showing Rory around the campus. She's a senior in Chilton. There's a program for that here. I volunteered."

Rory could hear her sneering at her. "Oh, that's so cute."

She felt as if she was going to pat her head. Rory finally said something. "So…how do you know each other?"

"A party. But, you wouldn't know much about that, would you?" Sydney snapped, shooting death glares her way. Then, she turned to Jess. "I have to go to meet my girlfriends. But, I'll catch up." She kissed his cheek, and walked away.

Rory looked at Jess. "Um?"

"Don't worry about that, she's just being her."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't even know why you hang around with people like that. Your obviously nothing like them, I mean, when I hang out with you, you seem so different. Sarcastic, you like books, you're nice."

He sighed, looking down at his cereal. "I wouldn't call me anything yet."

"Well, from what I know so far…I see a nice guy."

"Looks can be deceiving."

The rest of the breakfast was pretty quiet, then again they had nothing to say. Rory kept on looking up to see if there was anything that was worth taking notes, or maybe just to steal glances at Jess. As they walked out to the campus, ready to start their day, Rory got this overwhelming feeling that Jess was not up to this. Not up to showing her around campus, or maybe he just didn't like cheerleader-Rory as opposed to non-cheerleader-Rory.

She took out her pencil, and placed it behind her ear, continuing to follow Jess around.

"So...where are we going now?"

He shrugged, taking out his book from his back pocket. "I plan on playing hookie. Don't know if you would still like to proceed to the classes."

"But, that's impossible. I'm here to learn."

"Fine. You go."

"But–"

Jess looked at her with the first smirk he had flashed since their last conversation. "Come with me, or be a good school girl and do homework. I don't think it's a life-threatening decision. But, whatever." She shook her head at herself, ready to say no.

"Jess...please. I would play hookie with you any other day. I promise. But, I really need to, well, do this."

"What happened to the Rory Gilmore that I met at the beach?"

"I have responsibilities, Jess. I can't just leave them and run. That's called being scared." She said wisely, sighing. "You go and have fun. Can you just point me to the class?"

Jess looked down. He had not been expecting this lecture. Responsibility? "I'll go."

Rory raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Huh?"

"I'll go with you to the class."

She blinked, really not expecting this. But, her face immediately lit up as she tucked her hair in behind her ear. "Thank you. I promise, you won't regret it." She smiled broadly for everyone to see.

As the morning came and went, Rory felt a bit smarter, and Jess felt a bit more challenged. Never in his life had he ever listened to a girl. He had always been in charge, it was him who decided what to do, he wore the smirk. He was always right. And here came this girl with a great future, and she was completely perfect. She could take the world on without a worry. What made her the person that he would listen to? It drove hm crazier as the hours wore on.

"Wow." Rory gushed. "I could have never imagined that something could be this great."

"College?"

"What else? I mean, everyone's so smart. I'm not the smartest anymore, I have this great group of people who are just waiting to challenge me. It's so exciting." Rory raved, smiling as if there was no tomorrow. "I don't know how you could not like this."

"Maybe I would like it more if it was on my own free will." Jess muttered.

She rolled her eyes, "You know what? I'm tired of your whining. Why can't you just enjoy the experience if you have it? Sure, your parents are the ones who wanted you to come here, but that doesn't mean that you can't make this school your own. Don't you think you would be happier if you would just stop being miserable?"

"I can't believe it's you who's saying this."

"Why?"

He shrugged, as he dodged another student, who was walking really fast. "Your just...I mean, I never thought that we would be in this position when I met you at the Gas Station."

Rory looked at him with a stern look on her face. "What? You thought that you would just sleep with me and then you'd just be through? I may have gone home with that guy, Jess, but it's not exactly my personality."

He smirked. "What is your personality?"

"Oh, trust me, the way things are going...you'll see." She blushed.

"The way things are going?"

Rory rolled her eyes, exasperated. "Can't you just let me have my great line and not question it?"

Jess smirked, looking at her. "Fine. I'll let you have this one. But, the next great line is mine." She chuckled. "Now that we have gone to my classes...can I show you where the fun is?"

"Okay...where is the fun?"

"Sarah told me that Micheal is in town to throw, and I quote, 'the best freaking party ever, man.'" Jess shook his head at himself, and smirked. "What do you think? Rejoin Micheal for old times sakes?"

"We didn't have much of old times, but whatever." She smiled. "Is Sarah coming too?"

He nodded. "She's the one who's driving."

"I'm in."

"Did you bring anything to wear?"

"I think for Micheal, the best clothes you can wear are probably a thong and a bra. So, I'll be okay."

"The less clothes the better." He agreed, smirking. "I'll call Sarah so you can have a nice girly-getting-ready-for-a-bash session. What do you think?"

"I know where her dorm is, so, I'll just get my clothes and go."

He agreed, "Meet you in 'our dorm'." He said, just to make her mad.

-0-

"Cute or slutty?" Sarah asked, holding up a dress.

Rory smiled. She liked this. She couldn't do any of this with her friends in Stars Hollow or Hartford. All her Chilton friends didn't care what she thought, maybe she wasn't that great at fashion or something. But, the fact that Sarah asked for her opinion, it made her feel happy and girly. Which, wasn't a feeling she had very often. "Slutty."

Sarah looked at the dress closely and nodded in agreement. "So...I haven't seen what your wearing." She smirked evilly as she looked through her closet.

"Um, well, it's actually nothing big."

"It's never nothing big. A girl has to make an entrance."

She shrugged, leaning back on the headboard of Sarah's bed. "I'll probably go in jeans or something."

Sarah stopped what she was doing, and turned around, looking at Rory seriously. She practically choked over her words. "Jeans or something? Jeans or something?" She repeated, like it was the hugest deal in the world. "No, no, no, my dear girl. There is no way in the universe."

"I'm not a great fashion woman like yourself." Rory replied, sinking down on the bed.

"You have to sweep our dear boy Jess off his feet. He has to choke on his words, and get clammy hands, he also has to trip on himself."

"Trip on himself?"

"Well, it's what guys do when their nervous. It's creepy, I know."

She rolled her eyes, fiddling with her thumbs. "I'm not planning to sweep anyone off their feet."

"Rory, honestly, if you were any denser, you would be Brownie. You have to look great. Always."

Rory sighed, sitting up straight. "And how do I do that?"

Sarah seemed to be deep in thought for a few minutes and then she squealed. "Come on."

-0-

Jess stood outside his door, waiting impatiently. Maybe it was the anticipation of actually being with Rory, or maybe just because he hadn't been to a party in a long time. Well, a party with an old friend, at least. Yeah, it had to be it. He had never had more than sexual feelings for anyone, it couldn't be possible that after all that time he could actually have 'butterflies in his stomach.'

But, as Rory and Sarah walked down the hallway, his stomach was in for a wild ride. His eyes wandered all over Rory's body, taking in every inch as she walked towards him timidly. She was in a short, brown dress with a pink hem making her skin look radiant. Her hair was down, but he could tell that she hadn't straightened it because he saw the slight curl at the end of each strand. It was so amazing because she didn't look too under-dressed or over-dressed which was what any girl could hope for. As she smiled at him, blushing, she could see her exposed neck which just made him want to grab her and kiss her. But it was her beautiful blue eyes that sent him reeling,. It just topped everything off.

Sarah was beautiful as always, he couldn't deny that. With a skirt and a pretty shirt that brought out her smoky green eyes. He nodded at the ladies, walking forward.

He put a hand on the small of Rory's back, politely. "Wow." He whispered in her ear. She found this extremely uncharacteristic, as it didn't sound sarcastic or cocky. But, she couldn't help and beam. "Sarah."

Sarah frowned. "God, you idiot, compliment me."

Rory laughed at how open she was with Jess. It seemed impossible for her to ever be this way.

Jess shook his head at himself and sighed. "Beautiful, as always."

"Aww...Jessie." Sarah pinched his cheek mockingly. "Let's go now. Can't wait to see Micheal."

As she walked in front of them, Rory leaned in to Jess. "When did Sarah meet Micheal?"

Jess smirked. "Their like twins, when they finally found out that they were soul mates Sarah rode all the way to New York just to sleep with him. I found it a little desperate, but apparently they found each other."

Rory giggled. "Just makes you think of true love, huh?"

When they got to a small house, there were about a billion cars parked outside and there were people smashing a bunch of beer bottles against a tree going, 'Dude! That's so not cool!' and then doing it over and over again. Rory felt a little out of place as they walked inside the smoky, party-filled house. She hadn't gone out to parties unless it was with Madeline and Louise, they had practically dragged her there, though.

But, Jess fit right in. Sure, he wasn't very talkative, but he still knew everybody and everybody knew him. She was always looked at like she was just a girl at the end of his arm for a night. She nodded at them, and just smiled.

"I'm going to go and get a drink. Beer?" Jess asked over all the noise, again, it just made Rory want to get out of there.

Rory shook her head, sighing. "Uh, no. I'm just going to sit here for a while. You go party."

He narrowed his eyes at her, but she showed no reaction. So, she just turned her head, and he had no choice but to go off into the big mess that Micheal liked to call a party.

Rory was sitting there quietly, when she saw a dark figure hover over her head. She looked up and smiled. "Micheal." Her voice sounded excited to meet someone she actually knew for once.

Micheal stood there, proud of himself for throwing 'the wonderful party.' He smirked, "My darling. And how are we tonight? Enjoying one self, I hope?"

"I'm just kind of lurking in the back."

"Now, that's no fun. Come dance with me." He offered her a hand, but she again shook her head.

She refused, "Sorry. Not big on the dancing."

"It's easy, now, come." He grabbed her hand, and lead her to the basic little place where everyone was dancing closely. Everyone was basically grinding to each other, the music was filling their ears. Micheal lead them to a spot on the dance floor , and he placed his hands on her hips. She had no choice but to move to the music, and to his rhythm.

Her attention wasn't to the dance, but to everyone around her. The noise was booming through her ears, and she felt like she was about to burst at any second. It was that intense, she wasn't used to it at all. That's why she was surprised when she saw Jess standing next to Micheal, seeing his friend, he stopped.

Rory stopped her fast breathing, that had developed with all the noise and the fog that was coming from a machine next to them. "Hey." She stated shakily.

He raised an eyebrow. "Micheal..."

She looked at them, and she saw that she was sandwiched between them. Not close, but they looked like they weren't that friendly. She didn't know how long they had been dancing, or if he had been watching. Was he even her date? It was all too confusing.

They were talking to each other, she could barely make out the words. She moved to talk to Jess, but then she saw that Sarah was standing on the side, eyeing them. Her first instinct was to stay and talk herself out of the mess, but she saw how sad she was and all she could think of is to walk over and apologize.

"Sarah...I don't know what happened. He asked me to dance, then Jess."

"You do like the attention, don't you?"

Rory hated how girls could get bitchy in a second without warning. She winced, "This is typical behavior. I didn't even know what we were doing, it was sudden, I couldn't think with the loud music. It was...I'm just–,"

Sarah looked down. "Spare me the speech."

Then, a sound took their attention from each other.

BAM!

Everything happened quickly, and she couldn't catch her breath as she turned around to see Jess sucker-punch Micheal in an instant. Her mind was spinning, and she hadn't even had a drink. Sarah was already trying to keep the guys apart, but Rory was breathing fast.

She moved across the house until she reached outside.

She walked to the fence that separated the small, but now, trashed house from the street. She looked at the house in front of her and sat down against the white picket fence.

The next thing she saw in a matter of minutes, a blonde girl that was sucking on a lollipop ran out to her.

"Hi, you might wanna come check on your guy. He's like totally out of it, black eye and everything." The blonde threw her hair back and ran back into the house.

Rory sighed, she didn't know whether to run from the angst or go back in...

But, as she walked up the stairs her head was doing the responsible thing. The door creaked open as she stepped into the room, which was pretty much empty, except for a twin bed with a sore looking Jess in the center of it, lying down. She shook her head, and walked up to him, sitting down beside him.

She examined his bruise. "Your such an idiot."

"Drunk." He seemed to make sense of his reasoning for saying that, though.

"You were drunk?" She tried to help him along with putting the sentence together, as she touched his swollen lip.

He winced, but nodded. "Ruined it."

"Ruined what?"

"The night." Jess mumbled, wincing in pain once again. "The–the night that was supposed to be gooood." He slurred, barely getting the words out as she continued to nurse him. She shook her head.

"Jess, why do you do this?"

He opened his eyes lazily, obviously drunk. "What?"

"This." She gestured to his black-eye. "We're not in High School anymore. This stuff isn't cool, and you being jealous of something that hasn't even happened, is not heroic. What got into you?"

He smiled, for the first time, she saw a real smile. But, it made her queezy inside, and not in a good way, this was a drunk smile. "Your good."

"I'm good?"

"Pretty, nice, perfect."

Rory shook her head, sighing. "You really must be drunk." She looked beside the bed, where there was a small moist towel. She smiled and picked it up, wiping it lightly over his face. "Your such an idiot, punching Micheal like that."

"He was going to kiss you." He fought in his defense, but failed miserably.

Rory rolled her eyes. "He wasn't, Jess. We were dancing. As you don't dance, remember?"

"No."

"Well, you don't." She put down the towel and looked at him sincerely. "It was a stupid move, did you think I was going to let Micheal kiss me?" He shrugged, trying to lift his head up, but wincing terribly. "Well, I wasn't. You're my date."

He furrowed a brow. "You didn't want to."

"What?"

"Be my date."

She looked down. "That's not true." Rory shook her head at herself, she was trying to reason with somebody who was drunk. "I think that you shouldn't do this anymore. Come to parties just to get drunk, you hurt people when you do this. Me, perhaps." She sighed, running a hand through his messed up hair.

Jess didn't meet her eyes, as maybe it was a lot harder to think when you had a lot to drink. "I'm lonely."

Her eyes widened at the response, but she couldn't help and feel a huge feeling of sorry for him. She gave him a friendly smile and placed her now cold hand on his bruise, rubbing it gently with her thumb. He caught her hand, and she felt goosebumps as he held her hand near his chest.

"I don't want to be lonely." After that, his eyes fluttered close. She looked at her hand that was being held by his', she pulled away and stood up. She kneeled beside him, and kissed him on the forehead lightly.

She sat there, feeling completely tired. She ran a hand over where he had touched her hand, she felt that the goosebumps weren't gone.

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A/N: I will trade a review for an update. Any offers?