WARNING: Long chapter ahead…

Love can be a pain in the butt – Chapter fifteen

"Omigod! Paris look!"

Rory motioned towards Tristan and a pretty girl talking. Rory could see the way they were standing close and the huge grins on their faces.

/ "…it won't be long till other girls see the real Tristan and there will be an even longer line of girls lining up to be with him all the way from Timbuktu" /

'Mom! Why'd you have to jinx it?' Rory angrily thought. 

She looked at Paris who took note of the situation.

"It's over Paris, I had to be such a stupid, sightless snail…" Rory's lips trembled.

"Rory, don't be silly. You're being too paranoid and illogical to know that you sound like a real lovesick idiot with limited blood flow to the brain… You're just overreacting."

Rory slowly processed what Paris had said. And it made sense.

"You're right."

"What do you mean I'm right? I'm always right."

"Tsk." Rory shook her head.

She looked at Tristan and the 'mystery' girl walking towards them. Rory unconsciously grabbed onto Paris' arm.

"…Rory, I think you should let go a… tad bit." Paris whispered.

"Oh! Sorry." Rory let go and she distracted herself by playing with her backpack strap.

She wished she could hate Tristan. She hated the way he was making her feel so nervous and…so stupidly idiotic. And she hated how he had to be…too good-looking.

'Too good-looking? Where did that come from?'

"Hey Rory."

The confidence and calm came out from nowhere. Whoever or wherever this came from, Rory was eternally grateful.

"Hey yourself." Rory coolly replied.

"Paris."

Paris simply nodded at his acknowledgement.

Rory was so tempted to stare daggers at the 'mystery' girl.

 'I believe what you are feeling right now Rory Gilmore, is the feeling called jealousy?' Rory's subconscious told her.

Rory imagined locking her subconscious in a heavy iron box, weld it shut and throw it into a bottomless pit. Rory couldn't help but smile at that.

"What you so happy about?" Tristan asked her.

She looked up to meet Tristan's teasing gaze.

"That Mr. Tristan Dugrey had graced me with his widely desired presence." Rory truthfully mocked.

"I knew it!" Tristan said going along with it.

"Knew what?"

"Underneath that exterior of yours, you were truly…deeply…madly…in love with… me."

'What happened to the whole 'I'm not in love with Rory Gilmore' campaign?' Tristan asked himself.

Rory eyed Tristan.

"Dream on, dear *friend*," she patted Tristan's shoulder.

"You have broken my heart," he emphasised by clutching his heart, "just when I was sure that you felt the same way as I do, " he shook his head, "you sure know how to shatter a poor and humble man's heart."

"Poor? Humble? You? I knew I should have watched CNN this morning."

Tristan was about to reply when they heard a cough.

Tristan and Rory turned to the cougher, the 'mystery' girl. The girl looked at Tristan anxiously and a bit mad she'd been left out.

"Sorry." Tristan apologised. "Rory, Paris, this is Allison."

"Hi." Allison smiled.

A female could only decipher the connotation of that smile.

There was a hint of female rivalry in that smile. Tristan did not see it but Rory and Paris could.

Call her a hypocritical snob but she didn't like this Allison.

So she was being bias, but there was something about her. It was the same way she felt about Summer.

Not to mention her emotions have been going on a wild roller coaster ride for the past 6 hours.

'Why not go through the cynical loop.' 

"Hi Alisa." Rory replied purposely, flashing a fake smile.

Boy, did she want to give her 'the look'.

"It's Allison," she corrected.

"Sorry." Rory replied coldly.

She glanced at Tristan who was looking at her questionably.

'Great, I'm the bully, and she gets to be the victim.'

Paris looked at her giving her a 'you go girl' look as the bell rang.

"I guess I should get going." Paris spoke out shortly afterwards. "You know me and my tardiness record which of course is zilch."

Paris shot Rory a 'be careful' look and she headed to her respective class.

"Hey Rory, you got calculus don't you? Can you take Allison there?"

He waited for an answer and was confused at why Rory refused to look at him.

'What's wrong with you?' Tristan silently asked her. 'This isn't like you at all.'

Rory finally turned to him. To avoid Tristan's gaze, she looked at his chin.

"Sure."

"Thanks Rory."

He turned to Allison.

"You're in good hands. See you after school."

'After school?' Rory questioned to herself.

"Yeah. After school." Allison smiled.

Both girls watched Tristan as he disappeared round the corner. Once out of sight, Rory turned to Allison.

"Sorry about that. I think I should get my hearing checked."

'OK! So I'm not really sorry! But it's only polite to at least pretend. What's that saying? 'Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer' but is Allison an enemy? Without a doubt she is.'

"No worries. I tend to have a short memory too." Allison replied.

'So are you saying I'm stupid?' Rory thought.

She knew she should stop negatively criticising whatever Allison said. What she was doing was proving that she was low. But, it's not like she could help it.

'She's after him. Like a female praying mantis ready to pounce on her mate! She wants my guy!' Rory's train of thoughts came to a halt. 'My guy…Tristan's not mine. He's free for taking. Oh god, I feel so bad! I'm thinking of Tristan as if he were some…'

"Rory, shouldn't we be heading to class?" Allison asked.

Rory snapped out of her reverie.

"We should."

Rory moved first, with Allison walking beside her.

"So, when did you come to Hartford?" Rory asked, trying to make conversation.

"Saturday. You know, you're the second person to not ask me if I were *rich*. Which of course, am happy to say I am."

Rory chose to ignore her last comment.

"Second?"

"Yeah. Tristan was the first. He's going to show me around Chilton after school."

Rory could tell she added the last bit purposely.

"That's very sweet of him," she said through her teeth.

"He doesn't have a girlfriend, does he?"

Rory paused at the question thinking of a smart answer.

"Not at the moment."

"You think I got a chance with him?" Allison asked as they reached the classroom.

Rory looked at her and she diverted her eyes towards the front of the classroom.

Mr Fred was at the front; while the rest of the class looked at him, ready to fall asleep.

'We're late.' Rory thought as Mr Fred saw her.

"Guess who decided to join us." Mr Fred happily announced to the class. The lines on his forehead were very visible.

'He's in a bad mood. This is going to be tough Gilmore.'

Rory flashed a smile.

"Sorry we're late."

"We're?" he asked, and then he finally acknowledged Allison's presence. "You must be the new student. Name?"

"Allison Werrington."

"OK, Rory, hurry up and get seated. You too Allison." Mr Fred directed.

'He must be going through the male version of menopause.' Rory thought as she took a seat at the back.

Allison sat next to her on the right.

Mr Fred had begun writing exercises on the board as Rory fished out her notebook and pen.

Five minutes later…

"Hey, Rory?" Allison whispered.

Rory stopped what she was doing, irritated that she had to be interrupted from her work.

"Yes?" she replied not bothering to look at her.

"About before. You think I got a chance with him?"

Rory wanted to scream. 'Can't she wait till the end of class?'

"Now's not the time." Rory answered, still not looking at her.

"I wanna know."

Rory put down her pen with forced gentleness.

"I don't know." Rory said.

"You don't know? Come on, you're his friend." Allison forcefully urged.

"And?"

"You should know him pretty well."

"So?"

Rory could see that she was frustrating Allison. She went back to her work.

She could hear Allison rip out a page and loudly scribble on it. Afterwards, she threw the piece of paper at Rory; it landed on her open page.

Rory picked it up and read:

Have you slept with Tristan?

Bewildered at the question that came out of nowhere, she turned sharply to look at Allison.

"Where did that come from?" Rory whispered angry.

"Don't get your granny panties in a twist. I wanted your attention, which I finally got. Plus I wanted to see what I'm up against. Although with your response I'll take your answer as a no." she smiled smugly.

"See what your up against?"

"I'm not stupid. You were reluctant to answer me directly before and I had this inkling you might not want to be his friend; you want to be more." she added "My inklings are usually a 100% accurate."

Rory raised an eyebrow.

"I can handle a little competition. I know you don't like me and the feeling is mutual. However, a little advice, I'll back down if I were you, seems to me you don't know how to play dirty, and dirty is what I plan to play." she smiled again.

'She's been at this school for only a few hours and she already thinks she's Queen Victoria.'

Allison's smile disappeared as Rory chuckled.

"Sorry to break it to you, *Allison* but the earth doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around the sun! So don't think you can just boss me around like some servant of yours."

Unbeknownst to the both of them, Mr Fred had been watching the two of them.

Rory inadvertently waved the note around as she looked at Allison waiting for a reply.

Allison suddenly smiled. Rory was confused at Allison's response.

Just then, Rory heard loud breathing next to her. She turned to face Mr Fred. He snatched the note and flipped it.

"Lets see what couldn't wait till later."

He cleared his voice, the whole class looked at him.

"Have you slept with Tristan?" Mr Fred read slightly amused.

The rest of the class looked at her.

Rory closed her eyes to remain calm. Allison thought this would humiliate her, little did she know this would blow up in her face.

"Allison is unaware that Tristan and I are only friends. I don't sleep with my guy friends like Allison does." Rory loudly stated.

Ooh's and cat noises could be heard around the class.

Allison glared at her.

"Miss Gilmore, please get your things and go to the office. That will give you some time to reflect on your immature annotations before you see Headmaster Charleston. I will not tolerate this kind of attitude especially from the vice president."

Rory's mouth was wide open. 'I'm being sent to the principal's office? It's not like I swore or try to hit her.'

She glanced at Allison who was smiling.

Mr Fred turned around.

"Miss Werrington, I don't think you'll be smiling when you found out that you'll be going to see the Headmaster as well. What a disappointment, you've been here for less than a day," he turned towards the class, "and this goes to the rest of the class. See this as an example of why you should not misbehave." 

The whole class was dead quiet.

"Miss Gilmore and Miss Werrington, you're holding up the class."

Rory stood; she shoved her equipment into her backpack and walked outside, slamming the door.

***********

The sky was overcast, and the grounds were covered with last night's snow. Just then, a light drizzle of snow began to fall, Tristan guided Allison to an under croft.

Allison shook off the snowflakes out of her hair as Tristan looked around.

 The grounds were deserted.

'What kind of person would want to stay out in the snow?' Tristan asked himself.

'Rory would.'

He still couldn't figure out why Rory had acted the way she did this morning. If he didn't agree to show Allison around he would be asking her right this minute. 

He glanced at Allison who appeared content. 

"You seem happy about getting sent to the headmaster's office this morning."

She looked at him.

"It was worth it. How'd you find out?"

"I have my sources."

"Your sources are inaccurate."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I wasn't the only one who got sent to the principal's office."

"You weren't?"

"Nope. Your friend Rory got sent too. Like I said it was worth it."

"Worth it?"

"Apparently, that bitch said some pretty cruel things."

"Like what?"

'…cuz what she said was probably true.' Tristan added.

"She called me whore."

'…because you are one.'

Tristan clenched his fists.

"Well it's not like I go around landing every guy I see. I do have my standards." Allison tilted her head suggestively, as she slowly walked towards him.

"I happen to have high *standards* too." Tristan slowly replied trying to suppress his anger. 

She stopped. The smile she had disappeared as she warily stared at him. She then turned away.

"You must be in love with her." Allison quietly stated.

'For a bitch she's pretty smart.'

"I am," he answered assertively. He added, "and as much as I try to suppress it, I will always love Rory whether I like it or not. Nothing can change that," he was saying it more to himself, than Allison.

"Oh god, you must really hate me. Talking about her like that and stuff."

A tear fell down her cheek. She quickly wiped it.

"Sorry, this is the first time I've ever been… rejected. You probably don't understand."

"Life's a bitch. I'd rather get rejected by a million girls, than get rejected by one girl repeatedly," he replied earnestly.

She looked at him and began to laugh. He couldn't help but laugh as well at what he said.

"I think I'm going to go now, try and rebuild my pride."

She smiled shortly before leaving the under croft.

***************

It wasn't a real surprise that Tristan found Rory at her locker filling up her backpack to beyond its capacity. He slowly walked towards her leaning on the locker next to hers.

"What's with the cold shoulder this morning? Allison's pretty… nice."

Rory stopped packing. Rory wanted to say,

'Nice? Would you like it if you knew she's a real self assured…dare I say it…bitch, and you get a double load of homework cause you weren't able to do any work because of her? Oh, and you got sent to the principal's office as well.'

She turned to him. Only to say,

"Why, wasn't she to your liking?"

"She's not my type, remember I go for the girls with substance."

"Allison has substance. It's a cross between lithium and mercury," she scathingly commented.

She continued to fill up her backpack. She heard Tristan softly chuckle.

"A little bird told me you got sent to the Headmaster's office. What did you say?"

"Say?"

"C'mon, my little Mary isn't exactly known to settle things with fists and scratching."

'He's calling me Mary again, should that be a good thing or a bad thing?'

"I said…something along the lines that she was… promiscuous." Rory euphemised.

There was no way she was ever going to say that she got sent to the headmaster's office because of him, indirectly.

"And you call yourself a Good Samaritan." Tristan shook his head, as if disappointed.

"I never said I was a Good Samaritan," she replied defensively as she put her hands on her hips.

He laughed.

"Were you jealous Mary?" Tristan asked out of nowhere.

"No!" Rory lied "What makes you think that?"

Tristan knowingly glanced at Rory.

'Why do I have to be such a bad liar?'

"We're not dating so how can I be jealous of you?" Rory asked.

He smirked; she could see his eyes twinkle as he playfully backed her to a locker.

"I dunno. If we were dating, would you be jealous? You don't strike me as the jealous type."

He lightly trailed his fingers up her arms, knowing it would irritate Rory. He had the sudden urge to kiss her. 

'He's just playing around…oh god, this is a bit too close' Rory uneasily thought.

The way Tristan was staring at her made goose bumps form on her skin, she desperately wanted to swallow the lump in her throat and she could feel her heart was beating faster. She really wanted to kiss him.

As if he could read her mind he slowly leaned in, just millimetres from her mouth he stopped.

He couldn't, he didn't want to do something that Rory would regret, even if he wouldn't regret it. He slowly moved back.

Rory wanted to grab him but she was too paralysed from being so close to him.

"I should go. Want me to drive you home?" Tristan asked awkwardly.

"Uh…no it's okay. I'm meeting Paris in the library and she's gonna give me a lift home." 

"OK, see you tomorrow," he managed a smile and then headed down the hall.

Rory sunk back onto the locker and let out a frustrated groan.         

A/N: This is the longest chapter I have ever written, I really needed to get some things out of the way.

You may be thinking Rory is out of character but she isn't. Everyone has a jealous streak, it's like a volcano, and it can be dormant or active. Also, females have a little thing called PMS and that tends to bring out the bitchiness in them. Basically the purpose of the character Allison, was to bring out the jealousy and bitchiness out of Rory.

And I know some people like [babyblugoddess7389] wished Allison go screw a kangaroo (LOL!!!) but I had to make her sane in the end. If you want, you can blame my niceness. 

Also, I am determined to finish this fic before the end of the year. There are at least 2 chapters left which still need to be typed. Keyword 'least'. I mentioned in a previous chapter that I have another fic 'Just like Chocolate'. Well that's out, so 'reward your curiosity' and check it out! By the way, has anyone tried the new Vanilla Coke? The idea of vanilla with coke turns me off. And again, thankyou for your reviews!