Summary: Lily had no idea of college even being in the plans of Chuck, so when he expressed his wish to attend college she was ecstatic, she had expected him to ask her to make some phone calls and was even prepared to make a couple of donations to get him a late acceptance letter into Yale or Harvard, she was not prepared however to have him tell her that he already gotten into college, and was even more surprised at the universities location..

Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip girl or the characters featured sadly. I know this probably has been done, but oh well hope you like it, review, I'll try updating once a week

Chapter 1:

Coming frosty morning,

there's not a lot to say, about the things going on in my mind,

And as the day was dawning, my plane flew away with all the things going on in my mind

I don't wanna see you when you're coming down

I don't wanna be there when you hit the ground

Oasis-lyla

He had left, decided to start over, slate clean and fresh, so there he was working on becoming the CEO he was meant to be, which somehow in some weird way involved having to sit in a classroom through classes which involved a TA and other classmates discussing the lecture that he would be attending next day in the afternoon in which an actual teacher was to deliver him the knowledge that would fully prepare him to take over Bass industries.

Lily had been genuinely surprised when Chuck requested her to stay as head of Bass industries while he attended college, she had no idea of college even being in the plans of Chuck, but when he said that as a recent high school graduate he didn't really believe to be fully prepared to undertake the job and also wanted to have the whole college experience she didn't object.

What did take Lily by surprise though was Chuck's pick as to where attend college, she had expected him to ask her to make some phone calls and was even prepared to make a couple of donations to get him a late acceptance letter into Yale or Harvard, she was not prepared however to have him tell her that he already gotten into college and would appreciate having her deposit his twenty thousand pounds tuition to the account he just printed out.

The conversation had taken place in the same living room in which he once asked her for help against his uncle, and in the sofa where Lily asked him to consider moving back in with them and requested having him as a part of her family; he had later on thanked her, asked her if the offer was still on hold and eventually became a family.

Genuinely surprised Lily asked-"pounds?" - to which Chuck replied-"of course, I see no point in attending 4 yrs of college when I can obtain my degree easily in the UK in three years, the whole extra year is to figure out what I want to study and there is no point to it really, and there is also the fact that there's no better school to study economics, business and management in the world.. Plus London will be a fresh start and do the work just fine don't you think?"

Lily- "I can't argue your point; however are you sure you want to leave? I though we were doing a great progress becoming a family and all".

-Chuck-"believe me there is no one more surprised to say this than me. But, I like having you take care of me as a parent, and Serena's dramas are not all that bad, even Eric is ok. But, so many things have happened this last year, that I just believe leaving and starting over sounds like a good idea".-Lily-"does this decision somehow involves a certain brunette girl who happens to be my daughters best friend?"- Chuck-giving a profound sight- "she is just so messed up now, Blair I mean, loosing Yale somehow changed her, I know she'll eventually find herself and fix up once again, but I feel so helpless, like I cant do anything to help her pull herself together, maybe because I'm so messed up myself".-Lily-gently putting a hand on his knee-"so London huh?"-"We can all spend Christmas break in Europe if that makes u feel better"-replied Chuck-Lily-"whole college experience, does that mean you want to stay at the universities dorms also?"-Chuck- with an horrified look-"please no"-Lily- laughing whole heartedly- "I wouldn't subject you to dorms, but you did say the whole college experience, so I guess this involves a nice town house or apartment and finding also someone to fetch after yourself"-Chuck- "can we just move some of the people who clean my room here to London, I got no idea of how Mrs. Holstein does it, but she's as good as the maids from the Palace"- Lily- "so u want to deprive me from my life long maid on top of it all?"-Chuck-shrugging-"it was just a suggestion- Lily- "don't worry I'll find someone to make sure you don't end up renting a suite at the Windsor palace, according to this papers school starts at the end of August, how about we travel two weeks before school starts?, yes I am going with you to make sure you'll have everything you need"-Chuck- "that is alright I guess, odd, but alright"-Lily-smiling-"Will we see you on school breaks?"-Chuck-standing up-"I guess we can work around it"

With that he had left the room, not looking back to see Lily pick up the papers from school and read them over with a smile on her face, he had meant everything he said, he was glad he finally had a family and it brought some comfort to know that there was an adult who cared about him like the mother he never met, but then he also believed he needed to get away, to find some peace, to find himself.

True to her word Lily Vander Woodsen had made the arrangements to leave in the Bass jet with Chuck, Serena and Eric for two weeks, hotel reservations, arrangements to meet a retailer, found a nice four bedroom apartment overlooking Trafalguar square, and also sat and interviewed numerous people to find a cleaning team and cook that would look after Chuck.

In the meantime, Serena had somehow managed to blackmail Chuck and Eric into accompanying her shopping all over Oxford and Bond Street, they also had partied a bit, but once everything was fixed and one week already into his semester, his family had bid him farewell. Lily also needed to make arrangements for Serena's departure to Brown in a week, but since that was in the US, things were bound to be easier.

On the night before leaving and after having family dinner and everyone retiring to their own rooms, Serena had knocked on his door and asked him if there was anything he wanted her to say to Blair

-"Do u want perhaps to write something to her so I pass it along?"-

Serena had sat on the corner of his bed crossed legged while he simply lay back and covered his face with his left arm-his room wasn't that much different from the one he had at Lily's place he guessed Lily had taken it upon herself to make him feel home even at the other side of the Atlantic

- Chuck-pulling his arm from his face and sitting up on his shoulders-"I, I just don't know, I, I love her you know?"-Serena stared at him shocked and said "I know, but then why are you leaving her? I don't get it"-Chuck-sitting up-"because, I can't have her now, I cant help her, she needs to fix herself in the same way in which I need to fix myself, maybe someday, if u do see her, tell her to be happy, that I am ok, going to school and all"-giving a smirk- "if u want to continue shopping like u did this past few weeks I better learn something in school so we don't go bankrupt"-Serena-pretending to be offended and playfully hitting Chucks arm-"very funny Chuck, plus I'm not nearly as bad as B"-smirking-Chuck answered- "Eric and I might object to that, we had to carry your bags after all, you wanted to feel all brit and walk"-Serena-"seriously, anything you want me to tell her?"-Chuck-"tell her I didn't leave because of her, that I needed this, that I am trying, that she should try and be happy, tell her not to wait for me, she deserves being happy, and also tell her that, tell her that I do love her, even if I've never been able to say it to her face"-Serena-"Chuck, B is going to be ok. She'll fix herself, she always does, but she always had u by her side, I dunno how long it will take her without you there"-"that's the thing Serena, we need to find out who are Chuck and Blair on their own, what we are capable of without each other"-responded Chuck--Serena-"I get it, I understand, but that doesn't help me from wishing things were different, I care about you both, and.. well.."-Chuck- "we are going to be alright"-

standing up form his bed and grabbing Serena by the arm- "since we are not sleeping tonight apparently, how about we ask the cook for a fondue and go wake up Eric, watch some movies?-Serena-"sounds like a plan".

And then that's how he had ended up in a classroom that was not nearly as nice as the ones from St Jude's academy, but he guessed some schools like this one spent most of their money on paying off the faculty, the lectures where ok. But having to attend these prep classes was not something he actually enjoyed; yes econometrics was a bit confusing but he though he could pull it off on his own while having a scotch in his living room, not really going over exercises and doubts with his classmates and a TA, however what was going to become a weekly quiz that he took last Friday proved him wrong, so there he was with fourteen or fifteen of his classmates watching as the TA solved the exam which he barely had passed with the help of the grading curve.

Chuck had been to school now for a total of a week and a half, his family had left on Monday afternoon after he got back and this was his third econometrics class, he attended this "study group" as he saw it twice a week on the afternoon for about an hour and a half, Tuesday and Thursday, he had the formal lecture with a professor Wednesday and Friday, so "classes" were something along the lines of prep and doubts to look over what they did not understand on the lecture, assistance was compulsory on top of it, but he did promise Lily to behave after all, and he actually wanted to keep his promise. Not being completely over the Elle fiasco and later on the even bigger blow over with Blair, Chuck had not been desperate to return to his womanizer habits, plus he hadn't really met a girl who stricken his fancy yet.

Lost in thoughts about his family and Blair, he only became aware of what was going on in the classroom when the Italian TA walked up to a corner of the classroom and called a girls name

- "Miss Rothschild, since you seem to dismiss your classmates question, perhaps you know the answer"- the girl answered- "there is no point in looking at the coefficients on the exercise since the variables are not significant which you can easily now looking at the confidence intervals and P values, I was not dismissing my classmates question, but I though we already had covered that material and would be moving along to prepare for next class, not wasting our time looking at the material of last Fridays exam"-

The TA was blocking his view from the speaker, and his back seemed to stiffen from Chucks view, apparently he hadn't expected the response-the Italian TA answered- "well that would be the normal procedure, but since most of you didn't perform well on the exam…"-Chuck heard the girl pulling up her bag from the floor, fumbling some papers and actually saw her hand drawing the TA her exam, a perfect mark-finally speaking the girl again asked- "since I already now the material we are covering for today's class I'm hopping there wont be a problem if I retired? Will there?"-The TA-"no of course not, Miss. Your attendance is already registered"

The TA finally walked back to the front of the room while the girl with the mysterious voice gathered her things into her bag, Chuck hadn't seen her face yet, her voice had a weird accent, it wasn't British, and it sounded like an European and American weird mix he couldn't quite place, when the girl finally stood up, he saw an impeccably well-dressed girl, not thoroughly as Blair, she actually looked comfortable, and her hair was light brown with golden reflections, straight and long, a nice slim figure.. Someone who was definitely comfortable on her own skin, to have talked down the Italian TA who was having to much fun from his authority position from his point of view. Chuck was not prepared to see the face of the girl, once she stood straight up he saw a doll like face, a girl with a baby face, innocence written all over it,white skin, slightly sun burnt from the summer accentuating what were distinguishable freckles, golden brown eyes, sad eyes he decided.

The girl didn't do much as glance over the classroom and leave, there were about forty minutes left from class, and Chuck couldn't keep himself from wondering about a certain Miss Rothschild. He was intrigued. Once the class was dismissed and prepared to walk the short distance to his new apartment, he saw her again, smoking against a wall, something that was an odd contrast with the innocent imge she displayd but somehow went with he r personality; she was probably waiting till her next class or waiting for someone; he decided to get a cup of coffee from a cart watching from afar Miss. Rothschild lightly smiling when a Mercedes pulled over and no other than Carter Baizen stood down and pulled her into a hug, which she happily returned giving him a kiss in each cheek, taking a last drag of her cigarette she walked over to the wall to put off her cigarette and threw into the trash can getting into the car with Carter who had taken her notebook, smiling.

Chuck was definitely intrigued.

Next chapter:

Carter-"I don't want you near her"-Chuck-"so you can mess with Blair, but you actually care if I do something as simple as request a notebook from a classmate?"- An smirking Chuck responds-Carter-coming closer to Chuck and pulling him by his shirts collar-"of course I care, she is my…"