Title: Till the End
Pairings: R/T (obviously!) L/L
Summary: A TOTALLY AU fic… Adapted from a Korean drama. Tristan was the new transfer student from New York, while Rory was the normal student at Chilton.
A/N: They may get out of character… but I WILL try to write it as close to the character as I can…
Author: Nimisha (natalie_portm18@hotmail.com)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Well… IF I do own them, would I be even writing this now?! I do own those characters whose name u do not recognize… And the nickname.
A/N: THANKS TO ALL WHO HAD REVIEWED! I know it sound confusing, but all would be explained in time!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After the red leaf and the gold have gone,
Brought down by the wind, then by hammering rain
Bruised and discolored, when October's flame
Goes blue to guttering in the cusp, this land
Sinks deeper into silence, darker into shade.
There is a knowledge in the look of things,
The old hills hunch before the north wind blows.
Now I can see certain simplicities
In the darkening rust and tarnish of the time,
And say over the certain simplicities,
The running water and the standing stone,
The yellow haze of the willow and the black
Smoke of the elm, the silver, silent light
Where suddenly, readying toward nightfall,
The sumac's candelabrum darkly flames.
And I speak to you now with the land's voice,
It is the cold, wild land that says to you
A knowledge glimmers in the sleep of things:
The old hills hunch before the north wind blows.
~A Spell before Winter by Howard Nemerov
As our story starts here, a young girl of about 16 years old, wearing a winter cloak and school uniform ran down the pavement, the things in her hands swinging as she ran.
"Dean! Dean Forrester! Wait up!" the young brunette yelled.
She ran into someone's arms and panted harshly, trying to catch her breath. "Phew! I'm not late for the bus!"
A tall boy with dark hair faced her. "Morning. Stand still."
The tall boy was the 'Dean' that the girl had yelled at. He start to button up the yellow coat the girl was wearing.
"It's going to be really cold soon. You should button up your coat." He admonished the girl.
The girl stood patiently, waiting for him to finish. She looked over his shoulder and spotted something. "The bus is here! We have to go now!"
Both of them ran towards the bus and tried to squeeze onto the bus. "Come on! We have to get on!"
The two were the last, and the bus was already full of people to the extreme.
"Push me up!" the girl cried.
Fortunately, she managed to squeeze onto the bus. Sadly, Dean was left outside while the bus door shut at him.
"I can't get on! I'll follow in the next bus. And don't fall asleep!" Dean yelled as the bus drove away.
The bus stopped to left more passengers off. By now, the bus had cleared most of its passengers and was definitely very empty. The girl walked down the bus aisle to the last row of seats. She sat down at the extreme left window seat.
She looked out of the window, and yawned sleepily.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next thing she knew, was a pain at the left side of her head. The brunette opened her coral blue eyes and turned to glare at the passenger sitting beside her.
All she encountered was a pair of intense ice-blue eyes.
The two stared at each other in silence.
The girl studied the young man sitting beside her. He was definitely handsome, she decided. With a spiky blond cut and that pair of eyes, he could easily become a famous model.
Her eyes traveled down. To her shock, he was wearing the uniform from Chilton Prep Academy, her school. The handsome boy averted his eyes and looked forward while she continued to stare at him intensely, unaware that she was being rude.
It was only moments later that the blond turned to look at her again that she looked away…
And realised that she was in an unfamiliar place. She had no idea where she was!
"STOP THE BUS!"
When the bus was driven away, all that was left by the roadside was the two teenagers.
The girl exhaled an exasperated sigh and glanced at the handsome guy. He also turned to look at her. Guilty that they had caught each other, they looked away quickly.
"What is this place? And you, why didn't you wake me up just now?" The girl yelled.
She got no verbal response.
Undaunted, she continued. "Which year are you in?"
"Sophomore." He answered quietly.
"Aren't you afraid of Tiger Medina? I have never seen such a brave student like you." She remarked, with slight curiosity and awe. When she got no response, the young girl walked off, before realising that the blond was not following her.
"What are you waiting for? Come on, let's get a cab together. We can save money this way."
The young man still stared at her. When she turned to look at him again, he finally followed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A cad stopped outside an alley. The girl quickly got out and ran to the school. The boy also got out and walked slowly. It was as if he had no intention of hurrying at all.
As the girl turned at a corner, she stopped to look back.
All she saw was the young man stopping to lean against the wall.
"HEY! What are you waiting for? We have to go!" she yelled.
The man ignored her and put a cigarette into his mouth. He lit it up and leaned his head against the wall, puffing slowly.
The brunette just stared in surprise, her mouth forming an 'O' shape.
"My god. He's so dead." She breathed as she looked around, as if someone is coming round the corner anytime.
She looked down at her watch again and ran to school, unable to wait for the idiotic man.
She ran down the street and turned another corner…
"RORY GILMORE!"
And stopped short at the terrible sight in front of her.
A bespectacled teacher of about 35, glared at the brunette. He was Mr. Max 'Tiger' Medina, the form teacher of Rory Gilmore, the girl. He just pointed his index finger towards Rory and gestured her towards him.
Rory's face fell and she looked down, walking towards him reluctantly.
As she walked up to the teacher, shouts of "I would not be late for school again!" could be heard repeatedly. The males were seen doing pumps while the girls knelt behind Tiger Medina with their arms in the air, their backs facing him.
"I was just wondering why you, our regular customer, has not been turning up here recently." He said… well, he actually growled.
"Now get over there and KNEEL DOWN!" he yelled into Rory's face, his saliva going in all directions.
Rory quickly bowed and ran over to the end of the line. She put down her bag and knelt besides her best friend, Lane. Lane was the best friend of Rory, she was a Korean. She had very strict parents, who gave her little freedom, especially her overbearing mother. She had ridiculous notions about Lane having to marry a doctor of Korean heritage when she grew up, no dating and even restricting Lane's use of the telephone.
"I was only late for a minute, Rory. He don't even let us off even though we are in his form class."
"Lane, Mr. Medina would never play favourites." Rory repeated what she had replied everytime Lane made the statement.
The two knelt in silence for a short while before Lane whispered again. "Why are you so late anyway? Dean was on time."
At the mention of that, anger coursed through Rory's veins. "Don't even talk about it. It was all that freaky weird git's fault in the first place."
"Huh? Who are you talking about?"
A shout was heard behind them. "You there! What is the time now?! What are you doing? Dilly-dallying and walking in like a snail?"
Rory turned her head and saw the young man walking up. She slapped Lane lightly on the shoulder to get her attention. "See! That's him! That is the stupid git who got me in trouble!"
The blond still strolled up the path slowly.
"Wow! He is SO hot!" Lane sighed dreamily.
"Lane! I can't believe you said that!" Rory glared at her before turning her glare onto the young man once again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
IN CLASS…
Tiger Medina paced up and down the classroom as a young Asian student stood in front of the class reading something from the piece of paper in his hand.
"I, as a student, should not intentionally skipped classes. I am deeply guilty of doing this. In the future, I would not make the same mistake again." On closer inspection, the student was recognized to be a Korean, and his name was Henry. What a small world, isn't it? There were actually two Koreans in the same class.
"Louder." Tiger Medina barked.
"I would never make the same mistake again." The student said loudly.
"Louder!" Tiger Medina yelled.
"Mr. Medina, please forgive me for my little mistake. Everyone makes mistakes in life. Didn't you skip class when you were a student?"
The face of Tiger Medina started to turn into different colours, before finally settling on red. The class laughed as he walked up to the front of the room and slapped the back of Henry's head.
"For you information, Mr. Bae. I have never skipped classes in my student days."
The class laughed more loudly at that.
"Haven't you learn your lesson?" He growled and Henry cowered in fear.
The door was rapped twice and Henry was sent back to his own seat.
After a few moments, Tiger Medina came back and stood at the front. "All right, listen up, everyone, we have a new transfer student from New York High School. Come in."
The young handsome blond walked in and closed the door.
Lane tapped Rory lightly who was dreaming away as usual to get her attention. "Hey, isn't that the gorgeous blond and the reason of your being late?"
Rory's head snapped up from the slouching on the table and her gaze focused to the front.
"Holy crap." She breathed. "It's that idiot."
Yes, definitely. She was not dreaming… not with the awestruck looks on their faces and the pain when she was pinching her arm to assure herself that she was not dreaming.
It was definitely him. The same person who sat beside her in the bus. The person she stared at when she woke up and the one who was smoking before getting into Chilton. The same spiky blond hair, the beautiful chilling eyes that she could drown in…
Oh my god, what am I thinking?
She quickly snapped out of her thoughts and focused her attention on Tiger Medina,
"This is," He started.
"Tristan DuGrey." The young man interrupted, causing whispers around the class. No one has ever interrupted Tiger before. EVER.
"Silence!" The aforementioned teacher yelled, causing the whole class to instantly become quiet, so quiet that the sound of a pin, if dropped, could be heard.
"Well, yes, Tristan DuGrey. He is transferred from NEW YORK HIGH SCHOOL, I believe. A very prestigious school for the best students, hear that?" He empathsized.
"Now, I want all of you to treat him well and welcome him here. Will I have your cooperation?"
"Yes, sir." The class chorused.
"Mr. DuGrey, please sit in that seat." Tiger Medina pointed out the empty seat… right between Rory and Dean.
Rory's mouth dropped in shock. He was actually going to sit beside her, and during all the classes.
SHIT.
Another voice popped up in her head.
Well, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra friend. And you're going to be late this morning anyway, so it's not his fault.
Which is why Rory Gilmore made the decision that she was going to "forgive" Tristan DuGrey, and start a clean slate.
Tristan still stood beside the teacher when he saw his partners beside him.
The bell rang.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was a rather good day for Rory, she admitted, save for the terrible start of the day. It was the first time she saw Paris Gellar being made a fool out of herself and rejected at the same time by the new guy. Definitely something she wanted to store in her memory forever.
Paris was the class beauty, and the most brilliant student. (A/N: I had to make her like this, her occupation later on may shock you guys, but sorry, it HAD to be done.) She wanted to compete with Rory in everything, vying for valedictorian, for almost everything. Suffice to say, they had an on-off friendship.
It was funny, seeing Paris being thrown off that way. She had announced before to all the girls in class that Tristan was hers, and got rejected publicly in front of them.
Needless to say, she became quite the laughingstock.
The mystery was of course, Tristan DuGrey. He had caught the attention of every girl - from the freshmen to the seniors. There were rumours, of reasons why he transferred from New York High School to Chilton. The gossip traveled fast, of him being a brilliant student, winning whatever and whatever competition, and all sorts.
Yes, Tristan DuGrey had definitely became popular.
No one knew who exactly he was, and the way he acted confused Rory.
Especially one particular incident.
Dean had asked the new student what extracurricular activity he wanted to join, and he had ignored Dean coldly by walking out of the classroom.
Rory just took the list of activities that Chilton offered and walked out to catch up. She had called out to Tristan and started to read from the list… and never expected for him to interrupt her. He wanted to know what Dean's extracurricular activity was, and joined the broadcasting club immediately.
There were only six members in the club -- Paris, Dean, Lane, Henry, herself and now, Tristan DuGrey.
It was almost as if he joined the club because of Dean…
****
Dean and Rory walked on the same path they had everyday, from the bus stop to Stars Hollow.
"He's strange, isn't he?" Rory suddenly spoke aloud.
"What?"
"I mean, that new student, Tristan DuGrey."
"Oh, him? I guess he is quite weird."
"He joined the club when he heard you were in it." Rory said.
"Really?" Dean asked, uninterested.
"Yep."
Growing bored with the conversation, Rory looked around for something to do.
She abruptly ran up to the wooden beams and jumped on it, trying to balance herself. Dean shook his head, amused when he saw that.
"I am going to finish walking this today." Rory said in a determined tone and she started to take a step forward.
She managed to get three steps forward before she started wobbling. Her hands were in the air, as she balance herself.
Dean offered his hand. "Come on, hold my hand."
Rory withdrew her hand. "No, I would only hold the hand of the man that I love."
Dean put down his hand as Rory walked forward on the balancing beam with renewed determination. She finally succeeded.
"See? I could do it!" she said and walked off, leaving Dean to catch up with her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tristan walked into a large library, evidently the library of Chilton from the students wearing the uniforms as they studied. He walked between the book sections, trying to find something. When he stopped, he slid his finger against the titles. The books were the yearbooks of Chilton.
As his finger stopped at a title, he took the particular book out. The year emblazoned on the cover was 1972. He flipped quickly through the book and stopped at the student photographs. It became obvious that he was searching for someone. He finally stopped at a page and took out something to compare.
The resemblance between the person in the book and the man in the photograph that he had taken out was evident. A woman was seen smiling and her arm was looped around the man in the photograph.
Below the photograph, a name was written.
Harvey Dean Forrester.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
ARGH! So that was it… I apologize for any grammatical or spelling mistakes as this story had been unbetaed.
PLEASE R/R!
