A/N: This story is definitely AU, what else would I write?
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Rory Gilmore was your average student you could say. But to her, school was something she was passionate about. So when the opportunity arose for her to attend Chilton Prep, she took it. She was ecstatic about it to say the least. So in the middle of her sophomore year, she went. She didn't grow up with the kids there so for awhile she was an outsider. But, when a Gilmore is faced with a challenge, they conquer it. She worked on the paper where she became friends with Paris, Madeline, and Louise. Then there was Tristan. He was a pain in the ass, but he was one of her best friends nonetheless. By the end of her first year there, she felt better about going there then when she first started and even more so her second full year there. But what she wasn't prepared for was her senior year, where she would meet new people, make some friends, and of course, make a few enemies, because what's high school without some enemies, right?
Rory walked into Chilton Prep on the first day of her senior year and was greeted by none other then Tristan DuGrey. He slung his arm over her shoulders and kissed her cheek. No, he didn't do this for every girl he was friends with, not that he had many friends that were girls. But for his Mary, he did. "Hey Mare, how was your summer?"
By this time they were at her locker and she was fighting with it. "Come on Ricardo open up for me." She finally gets her locker open and she throws the books she doesn't need in there then she closes the door. She turns and looks at him. "Tristan, you know how my summer went. You bothered me everyday and whatever nights you weren't with whatever girl was attached to you."
He stands in front of her and puts his hand on the locker, above her head. "My mistake Mary and besides, it's not like I had a girl everyday. It was more like once a week."
She rolls her eyes and glares at him. "Did your ego grow more in the past three months or something?"
He laughs, shaking his head. "Funny, that was really funny. No, I think Logan has something to do with me being so chipper."
She looks up at him with a raised eyebrow. "What's a Logan?"
He chuckles and looks over his shoulder and gestures to a boy with blonde hair. Rory looks at him and then back at Tristan with a raised eyebrow wanting him to explain further who the boy was.
"Mary, he's my cousin, you remember him. He was at a few of my parties last year with some of his friends."
She gasped and looked at him. "Logan and is that Finn?. What the hell are they doing here? I thought he went to the Phillips Exeter Academy? Wait, does he remember me?"
He nods, smirking. "I'm sure he does. Why don't we go over there and talk to him. Do you have all your books that you need?" When she nods he takes her hand in his and leads her over to Logan and Finn who were by Logan's locker. Finn had his eyes closed and was leaning against the locker. "Logan, Finn you remember Rory, don't you?"
Logan looks at her, smirking. "I do, hey Ace."
She rolls his eyes and shakes her head. "Stop calling me that." She looks at Finn, raising an eyebrow. "Um Finn are you ok?"
Tristan had his arm around Rory when Finn finally snapped out of his trance. He looked at Rory who was looking at him with concern. He thought about it quickly and no one ever looked at him like that unless he was drunk and was babbling about something. "I'm fine Love, I just don't like the mornings all that much. Now, who are you?"
She smiles at him. "I'm Rory Gilmore, I'm a friend of Tristan's he introduced us a few minutes ago. And we've met before at a party of Tristan's."
He smiles, takes her hand, and kisses the top of it. "I remember you now Love, will you be showing me to my classes?"
She laughs, shrugging. "If you want me to, I will. Just give me your schedule." He hands her his schedule and she looks it over. "You and I have all our classes together so just follow me today if you want."
He grins and pushes Tristan away, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Later Mates, I've got to escort this lovely lady around."
"Finn, do you even have any idea where you have to go?" She looks up at him, smiling sweetly. "Just follow me." She goes to turn them in the direction they need to go but Finn leads them in the opposite direction.
Tristan and Logan were talking a few minutes later when they saw a small Rory Gilmore pushing Finn in the right direction. "I told you that that wasn't the right way but no, you don't listen, next time you're going to listen to me." They see Finn smirk and nod. "Yes Love." Logan turns to Tristan. "Well, it looks like Finn has found a new friend."
Tristan looks at Logan as he leans back against the locker, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah, I can see that he did." To say that Tristan was upset about this new found friendship was putting it lightly. But why wasn't he ok with it? I mean it's not like he had feelings for Rory, or did he? He turns to Logan. "We better get to class, come on." They walk to their first class and see Finn and Rory talking enthusiastically about something. Tristan sat next to Rory and looked at her. "What are you two talking about?"
Rory looks over at Tristan, smiling. "Just talking about different stuff, I'm trying to get to know him. Why do you ask?" Finn watched the pair interact and he looked for signs that something was going on with the two of them but he couldn't tell.
Tristan shrugs. "I'm just wondering what I walked into, that's all. Can't I ask what you're talking about?"
She shakes her head. "No, right now you can't ask. What's with giving me the attitude? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Nothing is wrong with me. Why would something be wrong?"
"You're acting off, even for you, and I'm wondering why. Can't I ask you a simple question?"
Tristan shrugs and was about to say something to her when the teacher came in. Everyone moved their bodies so that they were facing the front of the room and paying attention to the teacher. He had no idea what was going on in is head. Why was he being so possessive towards her? Was he jealous of Finn? But was there a reason to be? He thought there was, but maybe he needed to talk to Rory. The bell rang signaling the end of their first class. Tristan grabbed Rory's arm gently before she could go and whispered in her ear that he would see her in lunch.
He left with Logan, leaving Finn and Rory alone. Finn took her books with his and they headed to Rory's locker to change her books then to Finn's to change his books. They headed towards their next class, one that they didn't have with Tristan or Logan and sat through it. Eventually it was time for lunch and they were at Rory's locker after having just come from Finn's.
"I hate the first day of school. I swear, I have more homework then I've ever had. Are they trying to make up for the three months we missed or something? And why did they have to start on a Friday? What's wrong with Monday?" She grabs her afternoon books and looks up at Finn.
Finn looks at her and laughs. "Probably Love, but there's not that much." He sees the look she's giving him and recoils. "Ok, so there is. But you'll get through it in no time Love. I'll even help you if you want me to. And this way we have a whole weekend to do it."
She smiles, nodding. "I'd like your help; how about my house after school? I'll give you directions when we get to the lunch room."
"Or how about I take you home so that I don't get lost?"
She nods as they get into the lunch room. "Ok, sounds good." She leads him over to the table that she usually sits at and looks at him. "Logan and Tristan are over there if you want to go with them." She sits down and gets out her walkman and her lunch, putting her book bag down on the floor.
Finn sits down across from her after getting his lunch and looks at her. "Why would I leave you all alone? I want to eat with you Love."
She looked at him. "I usually don't eat with anyone, if I do it'll be Paris or Tristan, it's not my choice, but I would like the company so stay." She smiled at him and put her walkman away. "So my house after school?"
He grins, nodding. "Of course, we'll meet at your locker."
They were talking about different things when Tristan came over to Rory. He saw her with Finn and he wasn't really thrilled about them interacting like this but he had no choice in the matter. He sat next to Rory and slung his arm over her shoulders.
"Tristan what the hell do you want? We're talking you know."
"Whoa Mare, relax I just wanted to see if we could talk after school."
"I've got plans, I'm sorry. We can talk now, what did you want to tell me?"
"What are you doing after school?"
"I'm hanging out with Finn and doing homework with him. Why?"
"No reason. I'll talk to you tomorrow about what I have to talk to you about though." He kisses her cheek and leaves the table.
Rory watches him walk away and she shakes her head. She didn't know what was wrong with him; he changed his attitude really quickly. She shook her head and looked at Finn. "Sorry about Tristan just ignore him."
"It's alright Love. You ready to go to class now?"
She nods, standing up, and throwing away her trash. She picks up her bag and heads with him to their class. They get there and Finn hides her books from her.
"Finn, books now."
"Sorry Love, I can't do that."
"Fine keep them I don't care I'll cancel our plans for tonight."
He quickly hands her the books back and smirks. "You play dirty."
She grins. "I'm aware of how I play." She takes her books and sits down.
The rest of the day passes and everyone is relieved that they survived the first day. Rory was at her locker when Finn came up beside her and was trying to hide behind her.
"Finn what are you trying to do?"
"There's this Shelia after me."
Rory looks and sees Summer looking around. "The blonde one?"
He nods, still hiding behind her. "Yes, her; you need to help me."
She laughs and hides him from her as best as she can. "What was she doing that I've got to hide you for?"
He stands up straight and shrugs. "Just flirting with me, that's all."
Rory frowns and shakes her head, mumbling under her breath. "Great another one." She closes her locker and heads away from it.
Finn heard what she said and was confused. He followed her and took her bag from her.
"Finn, give me back my bag I need to get home."
"But what about our study date?" He looks at her with his innocent eyes, pouting.
She chuckles and smiles. "Ok fine, we're still on."
They walk outside and get into Finn's car. He pulls out of his spot and looks over at her. "Can I ask you what the 'great another one' remark was about?"
She looks down at her hands which are in her lap and shrugs. "It's just that Summer only goes for the guys like Tristan and Logan and I assumed that since she was after you. I know Tristan and Logan are good guys, but they're also playboys. I just got that image from you."
He nodded at her. He knew he was a playboy but he didn't want her to get that impression from him. "No Love, I'm not like that anymore."
"But you were at one point, correct?"
He nods, looking at her from the corner of his eye. "I was but, I knew it was time to change I guess." He never told anyone any of this and he wondered why he chose to tell her of all people. He knew he just met her but Tristan did also talk about her enough.
She smiles over at him. "Change is good." She tells him where to turn and they are at the Gilmore house a few minutes later. He parks in the driveway and they head in. Rory unlocks the door and goes in with Finn. "You want something to drink?" She hits the button and plays the messages on the machine. She gets one from her mother telling her she'll be coming home late. She shrugs and goes into the kitchen with Finn. "Water or soda?"
He sits down at the table and puts their bags on the table with him. "Soda is fine."
She gets out two sodas and hands him one. She sits down next to him, getting her books out. "What do you want to start with?"
He shrugs. "How about we start with Trigonometry?"
She wrinkles her nose and sighs. "I want to say no, but I'll say yes so that we can get that over with."
He watches her and he laughs. "That face Love, was adorable."
She hits him playfully, glaring at him. "Hush and go back to working." She opens her notebook and starts on her math. She sees Finn out of the corner of her eye doing the same thing and she can't help but smile to herself. She shakes her head and goes back to her work. About twenty minutes later they finish their math and Rory pulls out her Physics book and starts on that. Two hours later, they finish their work and Rory puts her head on the table and closed her eyes. "Rory is tired."
Finn puts his books into a pile and looks at her, laughing. "You want to go to bed?"
"No, I'm hungry. You want to go get some dinner with me?"
He smiles, nodding. "Dinner sounds good. Where do you want to go?"
"Um duh Luke's, you'll love it." She stands up and puts her books away and puts her bag in her room. She changes while she's in there and comes back out. "Ready?"
He stands up, gathering his books to put in his car. They walk out and Finn goes to his car and puts the books in the back. "How do we get there?"
Rory locks the front door and looks at Finn and laughs. "We're going on foot." She grabs his arm and pulls him towards Luke's. They get there and sit down at a table. Luke comes over and looks at Finn. "Luke, that's Finn my friend from school."
Finn stands up and shakes Luke's hand. "Nice to meet you sir." He sits back down and looks up at Luke.
"What can I get ya?"
"I'll have a cheeseburger, fries, and some coffee."
"I'll have the grilled chicken sandwich and a coke please."
Luke nods and writes down the order. He goes behind the counter and gets the drinks and brings them to the table. He goes back and cooks their meal.
"So you met Luke."
"He sees nice."
"He's my mom's boyfriend."
"Ah so that's why I got the death glare."
She laughs and smiles. "Probably, but its ok Luke means well. Don't let Luke get to you Finn."
Finn nods and looks at her. "So can I ask you a question Love?"
She nods. "Sure why not?"
"Is there something going on with you and Tristan?"
She quickly shakes her head. "No way, Tristan is just my best friend, that's all. Why do you ask?"
He shrugs. "No reason, I just noticed that he was possessive of you Love."
She laughs. "He gets like that sometimes and it gets really annoying."
Luke brings over their food and they thank him.
"You're going to love his food." She feeds him a fry since he didn't get any and she smiles. "Well?"
He nods as he eats the fry. "I like it, very much."
She claps. "Yay!" She laughs and starts to eat her food.
Finn looked at Rory as he ate. He never met a girl who was so carefree and who wanted to actually live life. In a lot of ways he was like her and he thought that that was the reason why they got along so well, well so far they did. He noticed that she had finished her food and he looked at her. "How are you done already?"
She smiles sheepishly, shrugging. "I was hungry and it was really good. I'm going to get some pie you want some?"
He nods. "Pie sounds good, make it apple." He finishes his food and looks at her.
She grins. "Apple is my favorite too." She goes over and gets two slices of pie and brings them back over to the table. She sits back down and starts to eat her pie.
"Thanks." He starts to eat his pie as well.
They finish eating a few minutes later and Rory takes some money out of her pocket and puts it on the table. Finn sees this and hands it back to her and puts some money on the table and stands up, taking her with him before she can say anything. They get outside and start walking towards the Gilmore house again.
"So you liked dinner?"
"I did Love, good food."
She laughs. "Glad you liked it. Maybe we'll eat there next time we study together." They get to Rory's house and he walks her to the door.
"I think that sounds promising." He takes her hand in his and kisses it. "Until Monday Milady." He bows and goes back down the steps and to his car.
She laughs and goes in, walking into the living room and sitting on the couch. "That Finn."