All I Want

Friendship Experiment

Rory was freaking out a  little bit at Paris' news that Presley was in school detention with Tristan. She could feel her breathing start to quicken. 

Paris, for her part, could kick herself now for saying anything. She hadn't really expected Rory to be this upset. Her best bet now was damage control. 

"It's not like he was sitting with her. She's sitting like two rows back from him with  Gavin Crenshaw. Anders is the one sitting next to Tristan," Paris told her.

It was a statement meant to ease Rory's mind, but it had the opposite effect.

"Both Anders and Presley are in detention? Doesn't that seem the least bit odd to you?" Rory asked Paris. 

Paris realized now that she'd gloss over that tidbit of information, something the journalistic side of her would have usually picked up on. "Actually, your right. Although I  do think Presley's may have been unintentional... Ander's, though, he definitely went out of his way to be there getting caught like he was." 

Rory's curiosity peaked. "Why? What did Anders do to get detention?" 

"I'm not supposed to share students' information, but you'll keep it a secret?" Paris asked, waiting for Rory's confirmation. 

"You have my word." 

Paris leaned in closer to Rory to keep her voice low. "He got caught with Bridget Belson in the boy's locker room." 

And with that statement came the guilt. Rory knew she was the one who had pointed Anders in Bridget's direction. And apparently, he had wasted no time in seeking her out.

"I'm surprised that Bridget would compromise herself like that," Rory said while secretly telling herself it wasn't all her fault - Bridget had a mind of her own. 

"Are you kidding me?" Paris replied. "Bridget probably jumped at the chance." 

"Why would you assume that? I mean, Bridget is super smart, and Ander's charm is tenable and transparent.

"Truth, Bridget is a strong six in a boy's world at best. So her options are limited. Anders, however, is a solid ten in the looks department. The curious thing here is that hooking up with Bridget would normally be below his accepted level. " Rory couldn't help but wonder after Paris finished her rant if maybe Paris wasn't a little smitten by Anders herself. 

For what it was worth, Rory had managed to get her mind off Tristan being alone with Presley for a brief moment. But it didn't take long for the worry to come roaring back with a vengeance as her mind began to imagine once again the scenarios that could put them in close proximity of each other if that had indeed been the plan. Which Rory was now beginning to think it was.

With fourty minutes of his detention passed, Tristan had finished his paper. He'd applied as much b******* to it as he had in him. His plan now had been to leave detention and find Rory, and it was a plan in action as he got up from the desk he was at and laid his paper on the desk, but then Paris' earlier words stopped him.  "You're not a kid anymore, Tristan. They only have as much power as you give to them."

He surprised himself now by turning around and heading straight for the back room where Anders and Presley sat together at a table. He took an empty chair near him and pulled it over to sit in. 

"Can we help you?" Anders said, unable to hide the shock he was feeling at this unexpected interaction. Everything lately in his world had been so calculated that this threw him. Presley also felt nervous and unsure. Tristan sitting down with her and Anders would have been her last guess on his next move in this situation they were living in.