Chapter 3


She made her way down the Chilton halls, oblivious of those around her. The small lingering of her headache was still teasing her mind, and the last thing she wanted was to pay anyone who might give her a worse one any attention. Not that they deserved it anyway. She loved Chilton, actually. She loved the challenge it gave her, even though it drove her crazy a lot of the time. She enjoyed the surroundings of Chilton, especially during fall, when there were leaves on the ground and it gave the already old fashioned school just that certain something that made it seem timeless. Although, she couldn't be that enthusiastic about all those who attended. Of course, not everyone here was of the evil gene pool. There were the few teachers she actually enjoyed listening too, and the few students she didn't mind smiling at in the halls, but that's about it.

If she thought about it too much, it tended to scare her. The people in this school, included all the evil ones, would end up being our nations new leaders. Our lawyers, our doctors. Who would let such madness accrue in this world? She doubted they would if they had any clue as to what kind of doctors and lawyers they were bringing up. Is it written somewhere that if you are born into a rich family, you must grow up to be a complete asshole?

"Hello, Rory."

She groaned mentally and forced herself not to roll her eyes. She looked longingly at her first period door, wishing the call had come moments later, when she was safely inside. Turning slowly on her heel, she met Paris's dark eyes.

"Good morning Paris. How are you today? Eat your Cheerios and all? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day you know. I heard people get really crabby when they don't eat breakfast."

"Save it. Did you finish your column for the paper. It's due today."

She watched as Paris clung her books to her chest and glanced up at her, fidgeting slightly.

"Finished it last night. No need to worry."

Paris grinned slightly, her mouth twitching. "I wasn't worried. In fact, I was hoping you did forget. That way you'd be off the team, or back to doing parking lots and lunch menus. No such luck, I see. There's always next week." She nodded over her shoulder, and brushed past Rory, her two groupies tailing behind her. Only then did Rory allow her self the pleasure of rolling her eyes, finding it amusing that such a small act can retrieve such great pleasure. She sighed deeply and turned again, making her way towards first period. She loved this class, European Literature. It was hard, and you had to read over things a few times just to understand it, but it was interesting, very easy to get into.

Slowly she made her way to her desk, avoiding eye contact with Paris and her groupies and sat down, setting her bag next to her desk. Reaching over, she pulled her binder and notebook out of her bag, and reached down for her book, only to find air. Opening her bag wider, she filed through her books, mentally praying she didn't forget it at home. Snapping her shut with a groan, she began to push her self up from her desk to go retrieve it out of her locker when the bell rang. Her eyes widened in horror, realizing that now she was trapped in class, with no book. Sitting in the back, possibly the teacher wouldn't notice but he tended to wonder through out the isles of desks and sooner or later would find out she hadn't brought her book. She closed her eyes briefly, hoping that when she opened them it would have all been a nightmare. No book would mean detention most likely, and that meant another hour at Chilton with the worst of the worse. Slowly, the lowered herself back into her seat and opened her eyes. The morning was already turning out to be terrible, she couldn't even imagine what the rest of her day would be like.

"Class, I hope you all did your homework from yesterday, of course I don't care. It's your grade. Pass them forward, please. Then I will ask you to read pages 105-145 of your text book while I look these tests over, and read carefully please, we will be discussing this in class today." He raised a bushy eyebrow at the class, as if challenging them to be stupid enough to disobey.

Slipping the homework paper out of her binder, then pasted it to the awaiting hand in front of her and slumped back into her seat. Great, no only was she going to get detention, but she was going to miss out in the discussion, and in this class you were graded in participation.

"Miss Gilmore? I really hate to break you out of your day dream, seeing that this is first period and all but, please, do try and keep yourself focused on your reading. And to think, it might even be easier to read with your book out and open. Hmm?" He placed and old hand upon his chin and grinned down at her. The class looked at her and chuckled slightly.

Biting her lip slightly, she managed to pull herself up into a reasonable sitting position and gathered her pride. "I'm sorry, Mr. Monroe, I think I forgot my book in my locker this morning."

He raised an eyebrow at her and rolled himself on his heels. "You think you've forgotten it in your locker?"

"Well, sir, I haven't been there this morning because I thought I had my first 3 period books in my bag but when I opened it this morning the other two were there, but not first period. So it's either in my locker or at home. I'm really sorry, I really thought I put it in there." She swallowed, and found it difficult to do so.

Mr. Monroe smiled at her slightly, his eyes showing a slight playfulness. "You know, if you miss your responsibilities, no matter how big or small, there are always consequences. Correct?" He stated, folding his arms over his chest and staring down at her.

She could feel her cheeks begin to redden as the entire class now had their eyes resting on her, enjoying the early morning entertainment. Unable to find her voice, she just nodded.

He nodded slowly and smiled at her. "In this case, the consequence is detention. Today, my class, at 3:00. You are free of course?"

Again she nodded and did her best to hide her annoyance.

"Hmm, good. Until then, you'll share books with Mr. Du Grey. Please move your desk next to his, and behave."

Again, the class chuckled and continued to do so until Mr. Monroe clapped his hands. Blinking her eyes slowly, she forced her mind to work at a quicker pace. Mr. Du Grey. Du Grey. Tristan Du Grey. Raising her eyes to the desk next to hers, her eyes met with another set of baby blues, looking straight down at her. The soft rays of sunlight bounced off his now much thicker hair, and trailed over his tanned cheeks. She watched as his eyes slowly moved over her, looking her over and she could help but blush. She watched his lips as he smirked, one end moving up slightly in that unnerving grin he had possessed. Moving her eyes up slowly, over his cheeks and his nose and directly into his eyes, she was surprised to find no amusement there.

"Miss Gilmore, now." The scratchy voice penetrated her thoughts. Swallowing deeply, she moved her desk over to his as quickly and as quietly as she could and sat down at his right side. Without a word, he set his book in-between their desks and let his chin rest easily in his left hand and look directly in the book.

What? No 'Good morning, Mary.'? No nothing?

Her forehead scrunched up in confusion as she watched his, uninterested in the book in front of her. He hadn't even said anything to her this morning. Not even a small tease or a witty banter.

What the hell was wrong with everything this morning?

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He forced the small tingle of butterflies in this stomach to stop their fluttering and give it a rest. He could feel her looking at him though, and he could picture her blue eyes staring intently at him, wondering. Of course, whenever he wanted her to stare at him it was impossible to have it so, and now, after everything, he wished nothing more than for her to pay attention to the assignment.

It bothered him that she was looking at him like this. He forced his eyes to stay on the book in front of him and not look over at her, stare into her eyes. Unnerve her the way she was unnerving him. Damn her!

He sighed deeply and fidgeted. Wrinkling his nose slightly, he popped his neck and hopped that would be enough to break her out of her little trace of wonderance.

Come on Rory, lay off.

But of course, she didn't. She had the unbelievable way of ignoring the obvious, unknowing of exactly what she did to him. He swallowed and raised his eyes towards the ceiling.

"Rory, Mr. Monroe is going to kill you and eat you for lunch if you don't start reading. I'm sure it's hard, but tear your eyes away from my face, and pay attention." He stated sternly, looking over at her for the first time since she sat down. Her eyes widened in the fact that she had been caught. Her cheeks reddened just the slightest, before she quickly looked down at the book in front of her.

He nodded to himself and looked back at the book as well.

Now, I can get some work done.

Slowly, he read the words in front of him, making sure his mind stayed exactly where it should. The task at hand, European Literature. Reading this page. Forgetting the scent of the girl sitting so closely next to him.

He snapped his eyes quickly and sighed.

Don't tell yourself to forget, dumbass. Then you'll remember that you're supposed to be forgetting her, bring your mind right back at her, and then it'll just be some evil cycle and you'll never get anything done for the rest of your life!

He bit his perfectly pinked lip and forced himself to read. Boring, boring, boring. Usually this class interested him, one of his favorites actually, but today he just couldn't get into it. Sighing to himself again, he leaned into her closer and lowered his head.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked in a barely audible whisper. He watched as her head slowly turned to look in his directly, the slight showings of shock.

"What?" She responded in the same tone.

"Yesterday. You weren't here. I assumed you were sick. Are you feeling better?" He asked again, flicking his eyes to the front of the class to make sure Mr. Monroe wasn't paying them any attention. Thankfully, he wasn't and he turned his eyes back to Rory.

He watched her neck as she swallowed, then trailed his eyes back up to hers. She nodded slowly. "Yes. I had a, um, migraine. One day kind of thing you know?" She nodded again, and looked up at him. He nodded his head slowly and searched his mind to find something to say.

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better."

She smiled softly and he just barely managed to keep himself from groaning. "Thanks. And all it took was a day or moaning, groaning and throwing up. Then again, there's no better medicine, right? Gotta lay off the coffee."

He giggled softly, surprising himself and apparently Mr. Monroe as well.

"Is there something incredibly funny in your text book Mr. Du Grey? Would you mind telling us all what page so would have the pleasure of joining you in your amusement."

Clearing his throat slightly, he sat up and looked at the teacher. "No sir, please excuse me. Just thinking about something."

"Well, perhaps you wont mind staying in after school and thinking about it then, because it looks like you have a pretty heavy load to deal with now. 3:00, do not be late." Mr. Monroe finished sternly, flicking his eyes back down at the papers in front of him.

Tristan lowered his head back to his book and sighed softly.

"I'm sorry." He heard a small voice say beside him. He glanced up slowly and looked at her, forcing a small smile onto his lips.

"Guess I'll see you after school."

He returned his eyes back to his book, trying his best to ignore the burning sensation in his stomach. After school, stuck in class, and with Rory.

This day couldn't get any worse.