"Hey Rory, can you give me a sec?" asked Marcus as she was leaving the dining hall after dinner.

"Sure. Marcus, is it? Congratulations, I heard you got into third round trivia. We beat Redfield and Paris is over the moon. They're still ahead of us by five though overall. And you're only a mere three points behind us. It's going to be a tough competition. And now it looks like we'll be against each other tomorrow for the trivia cup," she rattled on.

"Yeah. Listen, I need to talk to you about Tristan."

He led her over to a nearby bench.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Rory in a concerned voice. "He was acting weird after the race."

"Do you hate him?"

Rory's eyes widened.

"Hate him? Is that what he thinks?" Rory asked in disbelief. "I don't hate him. I used to, but…I don't know. I guess I respect that he choses to act a certain way…It's his life."

"He thinks you're repulsed by him," said Marcus, laying the guilt on thick.

"Why? Where would he get such an idea?" she cried.

"Well, as an outsider looking in, you do tend to…disregard, no that's not the word…um," he searched for the right phrase. "You think…lowly of him."

"I do?" she asked him. Then she thought about it. "I guess I do…But I don't mean to! I mean…geez, I never thought he would care what I thought of him. He always acted so…cold, and mean."

"But he's not," he assured her. "At least not now. Not the Tristan I know. He's really a teddy bear on the inside."

Marcus inwardly cringed at the description he was feeding her.

"And…and, he, er…he likes animals," he went on meekly. "LOVES animals. And children. LOVES children. And the elderly. Elderly children, especially. And the homeless."

Marcus struggled to convince Rory that Tristan was a step away from a saint.

"He's the one that's been encouraging us to do our best at this camp. He looks out for us…and-"

"Okay, that's enough. I get it, Tristan's God," said Rory. "Did he tell you to come out and tell me all this?"

"What? No. He doesn't know that I'm even talking to you. I…Please don't tell him," Marcus begged.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing…Well, er. Aah, geez! He likes you, okay?" Marcus looked around him to make sure they were alone. "He likes you, and you hate him. Can you imagine what that must feel like?"

"But, I don't hate him."

"Then tell him, because he's pretty convinced that you do."

Rory thought for a moment.

"I have a boyfriend, you know," she said.

"You don't have to go out with him. You just need to not put him down all the time. His parents do that enough."

"Okay I'll talk to him."

Later that night Rory sneaked away from Paris' compulsory trivia team study session and went to search for Tristan.

As she neared the recreation room she could hear a commotion inside.

"What do you think you're doing? Stay out of it!" she heard an angry voice shout.

"Get away from her," she heard Tristan's voice say.

"Why? So you can have your turn? Mind your own business DuGray! I'm warning you!"

Rory ran into the rec room to find it empty except for Louise, Tristan and another guy in a Redfield uniform.

Louise was on the floor in tears, her dress straps torn off. The guy was standing over her and Tristan was bearing down on him.

"Tristan, don't," Rory cried.

"Get out of here Rory, and take Louise with you," said Tristan turning to face her.

"Look out!" Rory warned, as the Redfield guy took a swing at Tristan. He managed to avoid being hit by the fist but copped a ping-pong racquet to the head. Tristan shoved the guy into the back of the pool table. The guy shoved him back, and before anyone could see what was coming, they were flying through the large glass doors. Broken glass showered them as they hit the hard wooden porch. The numerous cuts they received didn't deter them as they lay into each other once again. They fell over the railing and into the dirt below. From what Rory could see, Tristan was losing pretty badly.

"Hey cut that out," yelled the camp director, rushing onto the scene and breaking them up.

Tris held his arm out to push away the director and walked away.

"Come back here, young man!" the director yelled after him.

"Louise, are you okay?" Rory asked the blonde girl, who was trying to fix her hair.

"Yes. Thank god Tristan came when he did. Elliot was so ugly, don't you think? I flirted with him, sure. But only to make Sean jealous. And then Ugly Elliot follows me instead of Stupid Sean. My god! Didn't he get the hint?" Louise ranted.

"Didn't you tell him no?"

"Not Elliot, Sean. I mean I sent him enough signs. Why didn't HE follow me? Argh, I need a shower."

Thinking that Louise would be okay, Rory went after Tristan.

"Tris, wait up," she called out to him.

"Why?"

Rory was hurt by his abrupt manner towards her.

"Aren't you hurt?" she asked.

"That's why I'm off to the infirmatory," Tristan said in a tired voice.

"Feel like some company?" Rory offered.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Moral support? You might need needles…or something."
"I think I can handle it myself, thank you," Tristan said aloofly.

"Oh."

"Goodnight, Rory."

Tristan continued walking without her, tears forming in his eyes.

"Hey Rory. Did you hear?" Paris pounced on her when she got back to their cabin.

"What?"

"Merlet and Redfield got twenty points taken from them. Twenty points each!" Paris was practically glowing.

"That's great Paris," Rory said unenthusiastically.

"Hello? We're in the lead! And tomorrow's the last day of competition! There's no way we're going to lose this year!"