Disclaimer: Amy Sherman-Palladino is the genius who came up with the characters…I had the ideas and any characters you've never heard of are probably mine

Background: Completely AU starting right after Run Away Little Boy (season 2) as soon as everyone gets home from the Romeo and Juliet production at Chilton. Characters from later episodes might make an appearance.

Summary: Things changed – Tristan's staying at Chilton, but that doesn't mean he's going to get the girl right away … but the situations that bring them together and making things harder for her to resist him. Rory, though, is having issues of her own back in Stars Hollow.

AN: If you like this please check out my other two stories (both Trory) History Repeats Itself and I Tried to Forget You and I have 4 songfics two Trory Dreaming and You Get to Me, one lit That Day, and one Rogan Invisible Man. Please read and review those and this one…thanks J

-:

Breathe deep and maybe you'll realize what's been under your nose

-:

"So, I might kiss you goodbye but, uh, your boyfriend's watching. Take care of yourself…Mary."

Those were the last words he said before leaving her forever. He'd been trying not to think about Rory Gilmore since the day she stomped on his heart outside Chilton by kissing her boyfriend. He'd tried absolutely everything including buying those PJ Harvey tickets just to get her attention; vying for a girl's attention wasn't something that the king of Chilton, Tristan DuGrey often had to do…usually they fell at his feet. There was something different about this girl and he thought he'd forgotten until that play. She was the one who brought up their kiss and he was the one who used it to hurt her. The last thing Tristan wanted to do was hurt Rory, but Dean was there and it made him so angry that he wanted to get her back for not feeling the same way. So many things he could've done differently, but it was too late – he was off to North Carolina in the morning.

The car ride back from Chilton was a very long one; Tristan wouldn't speak a word to his father. Every word Alan DuGrey said would go in one ear and out the other. All he could think of was the look in Rory's beautiful blue eyes when he left; the look that maybe if he stuck around there was a chance at him beating bagboy and getting the girl. When they arrived back at the DuGrey mansion, Alan decided to have a few words with his son.

"Are you listening to a single word I say, Tristan?"

"Yes father, every word. You're telling me that I'm a horrible person and that because I might ruin your perfect reputation as a Hartford elite, you're sending me away so that you can forget about me completely."

"This is for your own good."

"For my own good? You wouldn't know what was good for me if you looked you straight in the eye. I messed up once and you're going to send me away from everything I've ever known. This is total bullshit, father, we returned everything to Bowman's dad's safe, there was no harm done."

"If the incident gets out…"

"Then you won't be Mr. Perfect to the other lawyers? That's all your care about, your stupid reputation…no wonder you've never been voted father of the year."

"Any child who disrespects his father like this deserves to be sent to military school!"

"You're not a father; you know absolutely nothing about me."

"You have my genes, don't you boy?"

"Like that matters. What does grandfather think of this whole ordeal?"

"This has nothing to do with him…this has to do with you. The police told your parents to handle it and that's exactly what I'm doing."

"Ruining my life. You can't even give me a second chance; do you know what kind of total bullshit this is?"

"Don't take that tone with me."

"Well you won't give me a second chance…you won't let me change, you're just sending me away because your reputation means more than your only son."

"No! End of story."

Alan walked into his study and Tristan followed behind, he was too angry to let it end like that. He knew that there had to be a way to convince his father to let him stay in Hartford, stay at Chilton…suddenly he had an idea. He walked over to the phone on his father's desk.

"Who are you calling?"

"Why do you care, I'll be out of your life in the morning."

Tristan dialed seven familiar numbers waiting for a voice to answer on the other end. A voice he knew could save him from the hell military school would create.

"Hello?"

"Father?" Alan said puzzled.

"What can I do for you, Alan?"

"Actually grandfather, I called you. My father is sending me to military school because I did something that could hurt the DuGrey reputation if it got out, but the chance of anything getting out is very slim."

"Is this true, Alan?"

"I'm doing what's right for Tristan, father."

"You wouldn't know what was right for Tristan if it was right under your nose."

"The reason I called you was to ask if I could live with you for the time being…I don't want to leave Chilton."

"If I agree to this, there will be changes in your behavior, Tristan. But I will call Headmaster Charleston now and have you re-enrolled in Chilton."

"Thank you, grandfather. I will be over soon."

Tristan didn't say another word to his father, simply packed many of the thing in his bedroom and walked out the door. His brand new Porsche took him across town to his grandfather's mansion which was slightly larger than the one he was used to. Janlen had always been Tristan's confidante; he was always there for him. The first thing he did upon entering the house was hug his grandfather and thank him for allowing him to stay.

"There's a girl, isn't there?"

"What are you talking about?"

"She's the reason you want to stay at Chilton."

"No, I just don't want to change everything, and seriously, could you see me at military school."

Tristan and Janlen laughed as they walked in Janlen's study to call Headmaster Charleston.

"Isn't it a little late?" Tristan asked looking at the clock which said 10pm.

"I've called him later; remember he's a friend of mine."

Janlen continued to talk to Headmaster Charleston for a little while and it seemed to Tristan there was some kind of deal being made, but it didn't matter – that Monday morning he would still be at Chilton not in North Carolina. As soon as Janlen got off the phone he told Tristan that his re-enrollment was complete but there were conditions. Willing to accept anything, Tristan listened to what his grandfather had to say…there were going to be a lot of changes, starting with a study partner. Everything was so much better, he couldn't wait to see everyone's faces in the morning.

-:

Lorelai and Rory Gilmore walked back into their house after their food at Luke's ready to crash. Lorelai could tell that something was bothering Rory, but she couldn't figure out exactly what it was. She seemed to rub off the kiss with Paris, but there was a gleam in her eye when she was talking to that boy earlier.

"Rory, that guy that you were talking to…what that Satan?"

"Who…umm…yea," she responded flustered.

Lorelai wanted answers and when Rory was tired she was the most susceptible to anything her mother wanted.

"So, Rory, what did he say?"

"He told me that he was kicked out of school…"

"And…"

"What do you mean?"

"You know there was more."

"And that if Dean wasn't there he would've kissed me."

"Did you want him to kiss you?"

"No," Rory answered way too quickly.

Lorelai wasn't convinced but she knew that Tristan was gone so it didn't matter what Rory felt. Rory on the other hand couldn't stop replaying that moment in her head. She wasn't sure how she felt…she was going to miss Tristan and maybe she even wanted him to kiss her. Dean had been great, but the past couple of days she'd seen a side to him that she wasn't sure she liked. He was jealous of Tristan and acting completely irrational…he knew that Tristan was trying to mess with her; he knew that Rory would never have feelings for Tristan…or would she? Rory didn't know how she felt, but it didn't matter much anymore, it was something she'd have to realize earlier. It'd been a while since she'd last seen him; probably since the PJ Harvey incident. She remembered that he'd been there with her books but after she kissed Dean, Tristan was gone but the books were on the ground. It made her think of a conversation she'd had with Dean after the Chilton Formal.

"I seriously don't know what got into him."

"He has a thing for you."

"No he doesn't. It's just a game to him or something."

"He has a thing for you."

"He does nothing but insult me and make me miserable"

"He has a thing for you."

Rory had been so convinced that Tristan didn't, that after that night she wasn't worried about it. Even after the kiss at Madeline's party, Rory still didn't think Tristan could like her. But after the way he looked at her when he left, something seemed different. Maybe the girl he was talking about after his date with Paris wasn't Summer…

She left herself to those thoughts and fell asleep; she did have to go to school in the morning.

-:

Monday morning at Chilton was going to be exactly the same as every other day had been, except there would be no one waiting at Rory's locker to mock her. Tristan wasn't going to be there and Rory realized that she was going to miss him being around. She opened her locker to find there had been a letter slipped inside, one from Headmaster Charleston's office.

Miss Gilmore – please report to my office when you arrive at school.

- Headmaster Charleston

Rory was always one to do as she was told so she went straight to the headmaster's office. The secretary sent her inside and there was the biggest shock since she'd arrived at Chilton. Sitting in the chair in front of the headmaster's desk was none other than Tristan DuGrey. She wanted to ask what he was doing there, but not in front of the headmaster because she didn't know how it was going to turn out.

"You wanted to see my Headmaster?"

"Yes, Miss Gilmore…Mr. DuGrey here has been getting into a bit of trouble as I'm sure you're well aware. I would like you to be his study partner, just to help him get himself on the right track."

"I guess I can do that…" Rory responded skeptically.

"Thank you, Miss Gilmore."

Tristan couldn't believe his luck, out of every student at Chilton, Rory was the one chosen to help him get back on track. He knew that he would end up making her life a living hell, but he also knew it was a way to get her to see that here was more to him.

"Well, study partner, I guess it's time to head to class."

Rory didn't like the way that he said that or the way that he was always messing with her head, but she knew there wasn't anything she could do about it. Saying no to Headmaster Charleston wasn't an option…Rory was stuck. It wasn't going to be easy to figure out her feelings with Tristan always there. After Tristan left the office, Rory decided to ask the headmaster a question.

"If you don't mind me asking – why did you choose me?"

"Well, Miss Gilmore, you are an excellent student. You went from being so far behind to being on the top of the class with people like Miss Geller."

"Why didn't you ask Paris, though?"

"She never showed the qualities that I see in you. I see you as having the patience to help a student such as Mr. DuGrey."

"Thank you for trusting me, Headmaster."

Rory was still disappointed that she had to do this, but she knew that there was no getting out of it. She had to be the perfect student, that's the way it had always been. Helping Tristan was something she could put on her transcript, that's it…he was going to help her get into Harvard. She walked out of the headmaster's office to see Tristan waiting for her.

"Disappointed, Mary?"

"If I'm going to help you, you're going to have to learn my name."

"But you smiled last night when I called you Mary."

"That's because I thought you were leaving."

"Or maybe it was because you thought I was going to kiss you."

Rory didn't want to admit it, but Tristan's comment about the kiss was what gave her that smile…

AN: If this story gets a good response then I will continue it.