How to Save a Life

Author's Note: First off, I feel so organized… It's creepy! I found the missing folder from 'Out of the Ordinary,' sadly the OotO story outline was not in the folder… Suspicious! So now I have the folder and I decided to put all of the papers with my story ideas into said folder and I have subject dividers for each story! I'm not even that organized for school! I usually just shove the stuff into my bag and hope it turns up later (and you wonder how I lost the folder in the first place.) I'm so proud of my semi-anal retentive ways…

Another story… I have writing ADD and I don't care! I just keep thinking up different stories that I get passionate about for a short time and then I get bored and start a new one. I'm not abandoning my other stories, don't worry. I just want to grace you with this special little one.

This story is pretty Logan centric. It's absolutely AU and a little OOC for Logan. But there will be tones of flashbacks so the old Logan will be seen a lot.

Oh, Chilton is a boarding school in this story… just makes it easier that way.

Story Summary: Logan and his friends were expelled from their boarding school at the end of their junior year. This time, it wasn't their fault. They did it to save their teacher/mentor's job. Now, it's the second semester of their senior year and they convince their beloved teacher to accept a job offer from Chilton, reasoning that he is not done teaching them yet. He's not. Usual playboy, Logan, has fallen hard for a certain blue-eyed beauty. The only problem is she is dating Tristan Dugrey, the school jerk. With the help from his teacher, he tries to win over the already spoken for beauty. Will he make it?

This chapter has no Logan, but I promise the next one will! This is like the prologue chapter.

Oh, this is a website for the school the guys attended. I decided to base it off a real school… so..

http://en. Oooh, first disclaimer of the story! It smells so fresh and full of promise… Let me ruin it for you… I DON'T OWN GILMORE GIRLS! I only own the special character that I have created for this story and I am very proud of him. You can critic everything in my story except for him… I love him.

Chapter 1

Step One: You Say We Need To Talk

Colin and Finn

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Colin walked down the familiar stony halls of Harrow boarding school in London, England with Finn not far behind him. It was winter break of their senior year and they had come back to this school for one reason and one reason only. Colin could feel shivers running down his spine. Even though this school held many amazing memories, it also held a lot of horrible ones that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

He looked around solemnly as they approached the only classroom that had ever made them feel welcome, Mark Cole's, their beloved teacher/mentor, the man who had changed their lives forever last year. Colin quickened his pace as they approached the room. Finn quickly caught up to him as Colin flung open the doors to Cole's office. Colin smiled as he saw a thirty five year old man with wild, unruly, brown hair, and a matching beard sitting at a desk thoroughly submersed in a book. Finn cleared his throat loudly and the man looked up from his book. He removed his reading glasses and squinted his eyes to get a good look at the people who had interrupted his book. When he realized who is was he broke out in a wide toothy smile.

"Why it's Colin and Finn, as I live and breathe," he said in a deep baritone voice. Colin smiled back at him and practically ran into his classroom.

"Cole," Colin cried. He embraced his old friend in a tight hug. Finn came up behind them and engulfed them all in a hug. He pretended to cry.

"Just like good old times," Finn faked sobbed. Cole playfully pushed the two teens off him and crossed his arms over his chest. He forced a frown, but his eyes were still smiling. It was one of the things Colin loved about that man, he could never look completely serious.

"And what do I owe to this impromptu visit?" He asked. Colin shrugged.

"Do we really need to have a reason to visit our favorite teacher?" Colin asked a little too sweetly.

"You do when that favorite teacher lives in London, while you two boneheads live in Connecticut."

"It's the truth!" Finn cried. Cole gave them a look that made Colin realize he was not buying it. Colin sighed and slouched his shoulders.

"We heard about the note from Headmaster Charleston," he said defeated. Cole smiled and circled his way back to his desk. He sat down in his chair and put his feet up on his desk.

"Ah," he said in an 'all knowing' tone, "The teacher job offer rears its ugly head." Colin sighed.

"You have to take this job," Colin reasoned. Cole held up his hands like he was helpless.

"Colin," he said sternly, "I already have a job, remember?" Colin shook his head.

"But this one is at Chilton, with us." Cole sighed and swung his feet off his desk onto the floor.

"As tempting as that sound, I can't." Finn stomped his foot and pointed at Cole sternly.

"You owe us!" He shrieked. Colin hit himself in the head. Finn was not supposed to use that as an argument. Cole blinked and stared at Finn.

"What?" He asked dryly. Finn wagged his finger in Cole's face.

"We got expelled last year, so you could keep your job!" Finn cried. Cole smiled and chuckled.

"But I didn't ask you to do that, you guys did that on your own." Finn stomped his foot again and squinted his eyes at Cole. He couldn't really argue with that logic. It was true. They had come to Cole's rescue by themselves, because Cole's whole life was teaching. Never had they seen someone as devoted to teaching as Cole. They had been expelled from so many schools that one more couldn't hurt, so they covered for him. Finn cried out in frustration and walked over to an empty student's desk. He sat down in the chair and sat his head down on the desk, exasperated.

"I have a headache!" Finn cried. Cole laughed at Finn's antics. Colin snapped his finger's in Cole's face to get his attention again.

"Pay attention, Cole," Colin commanded. Cole's smile grew wider.

"You've grown a backbone over the months Colin. Did Stephanie do that to you?" Colin smiled, remembering his girlfriend Stephanie. A girl who had seemed so unattainable for so long, but last year Cole had helped him gain the courage to ask her out. They had been together ever since and it was all thanks to Cole. Without him, he didn't think he could have mustered up the balls. Colin snapped out of his thoughts and was angry at Cole for trying to distract him.

"Stay focused on the subject, Cole!" Cole sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Fine." Colin took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to twist Finn's comment in their favor.

"What our favorite Aussie was trying to say is we did that so you wouldn't lose your job, hence you wouldn't be able to teach ever again. If you accept the Chilton offer and quit this job, you'd still be teaching, everybody wins!" Colin concluded. Cole nodded.

"Besides the lovely feature that I would be with you two miscreants, what is the big attraction to Chilton?" Cole asked. Before Colin could respond, Finn popped his head up and smiled brightly.

"Chilton has girls," Finn cooed. Cole rolled his eyes.

"Yes, because hundreds of teenaged girls is really an attainable resource for a thirty something year old," Cole said sarcastically. Finn frowned and returned his head to the desk. His headache had obviously returned. Colin turned back to Cole and smiled. Cole cocked his head to the side in interest.

"What are you grinning about, I'm scarred." Colin walked over to Cole's desk and leaned against it.

"It's no secret that Headmaster Richards has had you on tight reins ever since we left," Colin pointed out, his toothy grin not faltering. Apparently, the Cole's once 'unorthodox' teaching styles were no longer prohibited in his classroom. The Headmaster had made sure he sticked to the rule by having one of his assistants sit in on everyone one of Cole's classes. The Headmaster hated Cole. He always knew the thing the boys had claimed to do at the end of last year was really Cole's doing, but he was unable to prove it to the school officials. So, because he couldn't fire Cole, he had sworn to make Cole's life miserable while he was still at Harrow.

Cole's face fell when he heard the words come out of Colin's mouth. He grunted and avoided Colin's gaze. Colin smirked smugly. He had obviously hit a cord. Cole looked back over at Colin and looked at him seriously, or at least as seriously as Cole could be.

"Sometimes it life, you have to deal with things no matter how hard they are. If I quit now, I will only be letting the Headmaster win at his own game and he will claim victory." Colin groaned and shook his head.

"You're staying here out of stubbornness?" He asked. Cole shrugged.

"I guess you could call it that." Finn popped his head up from the desk again and looked like he had an idea.

"What is it Lassie?" Cole asked sarcastically. Finn glared at him, but continued.

"You're not done teaching us yet!" Finn cried. Cole laughed.

"That was pathetic! You can't come up with a better reason than that?" Finn pouted and returned his head to the wooden desk. He banged on the hard surface with his fist.

"We're never gonna get him to agree to come!" He whined. Colin cocked his head at his teacher and frowned.

"Why don't you think teaching us is a good enough reason?" He asked, thoroughly confused. Cole shrugged.

"I feel I have taught you guys all I need to teach you," he said simply. Colin crossed his arms over his chest.

"How?" Cole sighed.

"I helped you get the girl, I helped Finn get his priorities in check," Cole listed, ticking off the accomplishment on his hand, "and I helped Logan stand up to his father…." Cole furrowed his brow and looked down at the ground. He looked like he was thinking. He looked back up at Colin and frowned. "Speaking of which, where is the third one of you guys?" Colin shifted uncomfortably. Finn started tapping the desk nervously. Cole cocked his head to the side in curiosity.

"Why didn't he come with you guys? He's like your leader, I didn't think you guys went anywhere without him." Colin glared at him.

"I resent that, we are a democracy! Logan is not our leader," he hissed. Cole laughed and leaned back in his chair again.

"Right, so where is he?" Colin got uncomfortable again and bit his lip. He wasn't sure how to tell Cole the news. Luckily, he didn't have too. Finn jumped up from his seat and walked over to Cole's desk.

"Oh for crying out loud!" He cried. Cole raised his eyebrows. "He's depressing, so we didn't tell him we were coming to see you!" Cole shook his head in disbelief.

"Logan depressing, I find that very hard to believe?" He looked over at Colin for conformation. Colin nodded solemnly at him. "Why is he depressed? He's following his dreams of writing without the pressure of his father's meddling." Colin and Finn sighed simultaneously.

"He's in love," Colin sighed. Cole shook his head.

"I'm sorry. Did you just say Logan's in love?" Colin and Finn nodded. "Our Logan?" Colin and Finn nodded again. "The Logan who was with a different girl every week, which really confuses me, because Harrow is an all boys school?" Colin and Finn nodded for a third time. Cole chuckled and looked up at the ceiling. "So what's the problem?" Finn sighed.

"The lovely Sheela has no interest in him, leaving him heartbroken."

"Oh, that's rich…," Cole mused. Colin sighed. He obviously was not going to get Cole to agree to come to Chilton. He turned around and headed towards the door. "Whoa, whoa, where are you going?" Colin turned around and shrugged.

"I give up, you win, stay at Harrow where your teaching creativity is stifled by Headmaster Richards!" Colin cried. Cole smiled brightly at him.

"Okay fine." He said simply. Colin shook his head.

"Okay what?"

"I'll accept the job offer." Colin blinked.

"Really?"

"Really" Finn jumped up and down and tackled Cole in his chair. The chair fell backwards onto the floor. "Finn, you crazy Australian, get off me!" Cole cried laughter evident in his voice. Finn got up and helped his teacher up. He brushed some lint off the man's jacket. Cole stopped him. "That's alright Finn I got it." Finn nodded and put his hands behind his back. Colin couldn't believe it. He had accomplished his goal, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit confused as to why Cole had changed his mind.

"Cole?" Colin asked cautiously.

"Huh?"

"What changed your mind?" Cole smiled his patented toothy smile.

"Seems Mr. Huntzberger needs a little help from me in the department of love." Colin smiled. They had their teacher back.

Author's Note: No Logan or Rory, but the next chapter will be full of them. This chapter was mainly for getting the feel of Mr. Cole. Okay, so time for the reviews! I love the reviews! Press the lonely lavender button, it's cold without your finger light touch… our mouse light touch, whatever…