AN: Welcome one and all to my new story. I hope you will give it a chance if you enjoyed my other stories. Here's the first chapter, and I'll update as often as possible. Please read and leave a review!

BACKROUND: Rory is a junior at Chilton. Colin and Finn are seniors at Chilton. Logan and Stephanie are also seniors, but they aren't around -- yet. Rory is dating Jess. Lorelai and Christopher are married, but they still live in Stars Hollow and Rory was raised the same way, except Chris was in the picture. They don't have money like the elder Gilmores and the Haydens. And, I think that's about it. The rest can be explained in the story.

Please keep in mind that the first chapter is most going to be used for explaining and organizing. The next chapter will be much more interesting, I swear. Enjoy! Oh, and I promise the Lit-ish stuff won't last for too long. And I promise, it's more original than it sounds. So please give it a chance!

Rory Gilmore-Hayden never expected to make any friends at Chilton, not in a million years. But she had. And even if they were boys, and a grade above her, she loved them dearly. There was nothing she wouldn't do for them, and vice versa. She could live without the girls in her school, who were mostly too rich to even acknowledge her existance, until they learned who her grandparents were. But then there was Colin and Finn, who were in fact two of the richest students at Chilton, and who happened to be two that couldn't care less about how wealthy their companions were.

They were a little out there, a little crazy, but that was part of why she enjoyed being around them so much. She was able to relax around them, and ground them a little bit. She could be herself, but also allow herself to let go. She smiled as she remembered their first meeting, and her smile quickly grew into a soft laugh. They had met her second week at Chilton. Colin, ever the ladies man, had tried to hit on her. Calmly, she explained that she had a boyfriend, and she wasn't interested. They had gone back and forth for a few minutes, with her having a quick reply for every pick up line he sent her way. After awhile, he had relented on hitting on her, and they had become fast friends. She met Finn because of Colin, and the three of them had been nearly attached at the hip sense.

They had been there for her through her break up with Dean in the only way they knew how: they took her to party after party after party. Normally, she wasn't much of a partier, but the out of character behavior had taken her mind off of him, and for that she was forever grateful. She found her current boyfriend, Jess Mariano, soon after. She knew that her best friends weren't fond of him, but she also know that she was beginning to fall in love.

"Hear that dinging sound, Ror? It means it's time to leave the building," Colin told her dryly, tugging on her shoulder as he and Finn passed her locker.

"Really? And here I thought the school band was playing for my entertainment," she replied with a smirk.

"Rory, love, the school band doesn't play for anyone's entertainement," Finn put in.

She shrugged, "The Christmas concert wasn't that bad."

"That's because we snuck in our cd players," Colin reminded her.

"Oh yeah."

"So, are you hanging out with Diner Boy tonight or are you coming with us?"

She sent a cold stare in Colin's direction, "His name is not Diner Boy."

Finn grinned, "It's the best nickname we came up with. Would you like to hear the others? There's Jacka--"

Rory promptly stepped on his foot, "Knock it off. And yes, I am hanging out with Jess tonight."

"Ditch him."

"Colin! I am not ditching my boyfriend."

"You know, if I was a girl I'd use that stupid quote all the ladies have."

Rory raised her eyebrows at Colin, "And that would be?"

"Chicks before dicks, love," Finn informed her.

"Well, seeing as you two and Jess both have the same anatomy, I think I'll hang out with him tonight."

"Your loss," Colin said as they walked out the doors of Chilton.

Rory tapped her lips gently, "That's what yout think."

"Too much information."

"Yeah, yeah. Bye boys!" she called with a smile as she walked off towards her car.

"If Diner Boy gets too boring, give us a call," Finn yelled after her.

Rory rolled her eyes playfully as she ducked into her car, adjusted her mirrors, and pulled out the parking lot. She knew the bitter feelings her friends had toward Jess were only returned with more power from him. Not only did jealously peek out every once and awhile, he also thought that them being rich meant they were automatically jerks. And Rory had to admit, before she met them she would have agreed, but Colin and Finn were different. And she knew that she could've been just as wealthy if her mom and dad hadn't decided to raise her away from the family money.

She rolled the car through Stars Hollow and into her driveway. She wasn't surprised to find her parents absent. Lorelai would be at the inn until later, and Christopher would work late, as usual. With a soft sigh, she grabbed her book bag off the passenger's seat and made her way into the house she shared with her parents. There was a note from Lorelai on the counter informing Rory that she would meet her at Luke's Diner at five.

Tossing the note in the garbage, she pulled out her cellphone and dialed the familar number of her boyfriend.

"Hello?" he greeted.

"Hey," she tossed back, "I'm meeting my mom for dinner at five, at Luke's of course. And I know your working until then, so I figured we could just head out from there. I don't know exactly what we can do, but I figured we could work it out then. What do you think?"

"I think you need to breathe once and awhile, and I also think that sounds like a plan."

"Breathing is completely overrated. I'll see you at five."

"Bye, Rory."

She closed her cellphone with a smile, and sat down at the kitchen table to start her homework that would only seem to grow as the weekend went on. Pressing her hand to her forehead, she took out the first book she found and began scribbling away.

- - - - - - - -

"Did you know you're feet are bigger in the afternoon than in any other part of the day?" Lorelai asked her daughter as she shoved a french fry into her mouth.

"Can't say that I did."

"Why aren't they teaching that very valuable information at that fancy school of yours?"

"I'll bring it up first thing Monday morning."

"Good. Your grandparents are not paying that tuition for nothing, you know."

"Somehow I don't think grandma and grandpa care whether or not I know foot sizes specific to times of day."

"An excellent topic for Friday night dinner, which we didn't have to go to tonight, may I add."

"I know," Rory half groaned, but with a smile, "You've only mentioned it five thousand times."

"I love their society parties that get me out of Friday night dinner."

"And that would be five thousand and one for that sentence."

"Hush. You're ruining my fun."

"Sorry. Feet good, dinner bad. Happy?"

"Quite!"

"Thank God," Rory took a sip of her coffee, "I'm going out with Jess tonight. Is dad coming home?"

"Business trip."

"Oh."

"More coffee?" Luke Danes announced suddenly, holding the pot above their heads.

"Do you even have to ask?" Lorelai chirped.

"A simple 'yes, please' would do," he said.

"We only do 'yes, pleases' when we have no coffee in our system," Rory paused, "Which is never. So, do you even have to ask?"

Luke rolled his eyes as he filled their cups, "You're getting more like your mother everyday. Stop."

"I resent that," Lorelai announced.

"Good."

Lorelai stuck out her bottom lip as he walked back towards the counter, "He's mean. You're boyfriend's here."

"Wow. I love the random topic changes," she replied as she turned around to see a freshly showered Jess coming down the stairs.

"I just thought you might want to know when your boyfriend is entering the room."

"Maybe I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Fine," Lorelai was silent until Jess neared the table, "Jess, would you kindly go back up the stairs and walk back down again?"

"What?"

"Ignore her," Rory instructed him, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep."

"Okay," she said as she drained the last of her coffee, "Bye mom."

"Bye, sweets. I'll act surprised when you come home, since you seem to have a thing for that."

"What?" Jess asked for the second time.

"Don't ask," Rory instructed, taking his hand as they walked out the door.

They began walking through the town, hand in hand, as Rory silently enjoyed just being near her boyfriend. He had moved to Stars Hollow a few weeks after Dean broke up with Rory, and she had been drawn to him almost instantly. Although Jess occasionally became annoyed with her relationship with Colin and Finn, Dean had found it unbearable. He insisted that Rory had a thing for Colin, and his theory had ended up tearing them apart. Jess was much more accepting, although his tolerence of the two was thin.

"So, where are we going?"

Jess shrugged, "A walk okay with you?"

She glanced down at their feet and grinned, "Guess so."

"I checked the movies. There's nothing even a little bit interesting."

"How can we mock if their interesting?"

"I wanted to talk to you, anyway."

"Well," she smiled, "I can't argue with that. How was your day?"

"Oh, wonderful," he answered, his voice laced with sarcasm, "Some kid came into the diner and decided to dump the entire bottle of ketchup all over the floor, and I was cleaning it up, he squirted mustard in my hair."

"I would've paid to see that."

"Thanks for the support."

They turned off onto their favorite path which lead to their most common walking destination: the bridge.

"So, how was your day?"

"Long, boring, and uneventful."

He squinted in her direction, "That's what you always say."

"It's Chilton. How exciting do you want it to be?"

"I don't know. Didn't those friends of yours pull some kind of prank today?"

"Probably, but I don't have any classes with them."

They stepped onto the bridge and sat down, letting their feet dangle over the edge. Rory rested her head on his shoulder, inhaling the scent of his shampoo. He wrapped his arm around her waist and she leaned up, smiling slightly as his lips made contact with hers. They turned towards each other, and Rory wrapped her arms around his neck, getting lost in the kiss. When they pulled apart, Rory smirked slightly and leaned against him again.

"My day is no longer uneventful," she told him.

He laughed, "Glad to be of service. Have I mentioned how happy I am you didn't have Friday night dinner tonight?"

"Now you sound like my mother," she smiled, "But no, you haven't mentioned that today."

"There's nothing more romantic than getting compared to my girlfriend's mother."

She laughed and turned her neck to kiss him again, "Sorry. Is the mood back now?"

"I guess," he replied, offering her a half smile as he pressed his lips to hers once more.

- - - - - - - -

"So, how was your date with Diner Boy?"

Rory glared at Colin from across the table, "Fantastic."

She took another bite of herburger and silently challenged her best friend to make another Jess comment. They were sitting at one of their favorite cafes which was located about halfway between Stars Hollow and Hartford. Finn opened his mouth slightly, as if he was going to begin another rant about Rory's love life, but he shut it quickly when she shifted her glare from Colin to him.

"You know, you could be nice to him."

"Hey, he's not nice to us, either," Finn pointed out.

"Oh gee, don't we sound like we're four."

"Ah, I love the feeling of love in this room," Colin said, draping is arm around Rory's shoulders, "Don't you?"

"I have no love for you at the moment," she insisted.

"I'm hurt, Ror."

She nodded firmly, "Good."

Colin was about to open his mouth again, when his cellphone went off, breaking the almost complete silence covering of the cafe. He glanced at the caller id and a confused expression took over his face, followed by a smile. Rory had to content herself to listening to one side of the conversation as Colin pressed the phone to his ear.

"Hey. Long time, no talk."

"Not much. You?"

"Really? And you're only calling me now?"

"And what's that?"

There was a long pause here, and Rory picked up her burger again. It was probably only one of Colin's many girlfriends, wait, not girlfriends, girls calling to inform him that she was back in town.

"Do you realize we're two and a half months into the school year?"

"Oh yeah. I should've figured. But it'll be great to have you back."

"We'll see you Monday, I guess. Bye."

"You'll never guess who that was," Colin stated, directing his words at Finn.

Finn turned to Rory, "What's the latest girl's name?"

"Mandy? Maybe? Oh, maybe it's Michelle. It started with an M, or maybe it was an N."

"It was Logan," Colin corrected.

"Huntz? Really? Isn't he in Europe?" Finn asked.

"Europe?" Rory inquired.

"Boarding school."

"Oh."

"So anyway, he's not in Europe anymore. Appartently mommy and daddy decided that he should finish out his high school career where it began, at Chilton."

"Logan's coming back?" Finn asked, looking shocked.

"Mhmm."

"He got kicked out again, didn't he?"

Colin didn't even bat an eye, "Mhmm."

"Does that make five?"

"Six."

"Including Chilton or not including Chilton?"

"Not including Chilton," Colin paused, "I wonder how he got back in."

"His parents can get anything they want if they throw enough money around."

"True."

"Okay, hold up," Rory interrupted, "Who is Logan?"

"Logan Huntzberger. He is a good friend of ours, love."

"And he went to Chilton?"

"Before you got here," Colin explained, "Then he got kicked out for taking the tires off of Head Master Charleston's car, removing the desk from his office, and putting the tires where his desk should have been."

Rory raised her eyebrows, "We'll get back to that later. So, he's coming back?"

"Monday morning."

"And he's like you two?"

"Well," Colin hesitated for a moment, "Yes."

"Slightly upgraded," Finn offered.

"That sounds about right," Colin agreed.

"Upgraded?"

"You'll see."

"You'll like him, love."

Rory stared at Finn, gaping, "How did he get the desk out of his office?"

"We'll let Logan explain that one to you."

"Well guys, he sounds lovely, but I don't think we'll be having any lengthy conversations."

"And why do you say that?"

"Colin, he took the tires off Head Master Chareston's car!"

"Point, love?"

"Point, Finn, is that I don't usually associate with criminals."

"Hey, there were no charges filed," Colin argued.

Rory rolled her eyes, "Gee, I wonder why."

"I still wonder how he never got caught when he stole the keys to Miss Thomas's car and hid them in the boy's locker room," Finn added.

Colin laughed, "We helped with that one, remember? We distracted her. Do you remember the time when Logan drove his cousin's motorcycle right into the hallway?"

"Of course. He almost got kicked out for that one. That was right before the desk incident."

"Are you sure this guy is sane?" Rory pressed.

Finn shrugged, "He just has fun. Me and Colin pull pranks alll the time."

"Nothing that dramatic."

"That's only because Finn here, and myself, have been on our last chance for about four chances. We don't think we are getting a fifth last chance. Besides that, you have a way of keeping us reined in."

Finn grinned, "And what can we say? Logan is the master."

Rory shook her head slowly, staring at her two friends in disbelief. This guy sounded like more of a nutcase than a master of anything. He got kicked out of seven schools, for God's sake! And she knew Colin and Finn had pulled their fair share of pranks, but taking the tire off someone's car and transferring them into the building: were they serious? Maybe she didn't know her best friends as well as she thought she did.

And was the return of Logan going to change them into his clones? She pressed her hands to her temples as her two friends took turns telling stories from their past that she was only half listening to. Once she heard the words Mr. Anderson, hair, and kool-aide in the same sentence, she shut them out completely. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she slowly picked at her burger. Logan sounded just like almost every other person at Chilton: rich, spoiled, and not afraid to flaunt it. How else would he get back into Chilton after pulling pranks like that? His money obviously got him everything.

She sighed. Her life was about to take a very interesting spin, and it was coming in the form of a boy named Logan Huntzbeger.