AN: I got my first bad review :( but the good ones made up for it. Sorry for the wait on this, I haven't been around much it's my last 8 days before college. It's not going to be much longer before I get to the real Trory, but I promise to throw in more banter before that. In this chapter you get to see Tristan's view on Chilton…well at least my take on it.

Paris looked over at how happy Rory was, she couldn't deny that she was glad but at the same time she was so jealous of Rory. Ever since her first day at Chilton, Paris could tell that Rory Gilmore wasn't the typical girl. Guys looked at her and were attracted to that innocent glow, then the intellectuals talked to her and realized everything she had going for her. Paris always felt so plain compared to Rory although neither girl worked very hard on appearances.

"Rory, have I changed since high school?" Paris asked out of nowhere.

"Well since you hated me from the beginning and held a grudge against me for two years and now we're living together, I'd say yes," Rory responded in a very Rory-like tone.

"Besides that though…my overall personality."

"You've changed in the past year more than anything. I'd say mostly since Jamie though; you've become more civil and outgoing…and dare I say it fun."

Paris was pretty satisfied with that answer; it meant that there was more to her than Tristan saw. She knew that he'd never just sleep with her because he couldn't do so without any emotion whatsoever. At that point, though, Paris wanted just about anything that involved attention from Tristan. She felt like she was 16 again and despising Rory because she had all of Tristan's attention. This wasn't the Paris that she'd become in the past couple of years. Regression wasn't very kind to her.

Rory could tell there was something going on in Paris's head that she wasn't filling her friend in on. Rory thought that it could have to do Tristan; she just didn't want Chilton to repeat again. Paris was one of her closest friends and she didn't need to go through the same bullshit as she was put through all those years ago. She remembered all the times that Tristan messed things up between her and Paris then the two becoming friends once Tristan was gone.

"I met a guy last night," Paris said out of nowhere.

"Really? What's his name?"

"Alex. He's Tristan's roommate; Tristan kicked him out of the room last night."

"He really didn't change."

"Yes, he did."

Rory wasn't exactly sure why Paris was defending Tristan after proving that he was the same player as in high school. She didn't want her friend being hurt from the games that Tristan DuGrey would always play.

"I'm going to get coffee, do you want to come?"

"Sure," Paris responded.

The two girls then left their room and headed to the coffee shop.

Alex returned to his room Sunday morning to find Tristan sitting at his computer typing something. It was still early and the girl was gone, that said a lot about his roommate.

"Hey man, sorry about last night. I've just been really out of it lately and she offered…"

"That's all I need to hear, don't worry about it. I ended up meeting a pretty cool girl last night…she said she's known you for a long time."

"Really…what's her name?"

In the back of his mind, Tristan was hoping that it was Rory that Alex ran into. If Rory had been roaming around campus by herself then she wasn't on a date with that new boyfriend of hers.

"Paris something or other."

"Gellar."

"You sound disappointed, were you hoping it was someone else."

Tristan didn't respond, he just started to think about Rory. If he was ever going to get her, even as a friend, he'd have to prove that he changed…but how? Whenever he was around her it was Chilton all over again. It was so unlike him to get nervous around a girl, especially one that he pushed to the back of his mind for so many years. He'd cared about her more than he'd cared about any other girl; there was something special about Rory Gilmore.

The phone rang and Alex answered it; once he handed it to Tristan, he left the room.

"Hello?"

"Tristan, it's Duncan. How's it going man?"

"Got laid last night…you?"

"Same."

"Duncan, do you remember that girl back in Chilton?"

"I need a little more than that; there were a lot of girls back in Chilton."

"Rory Gilmore."

"Mary? What about her? I thought you planned to forget her when you went to Military School."

"She's here. She didn't go to Harvard."

Tristan and Duncan discussed the night they broke into Bowman's dad's safe ruining any chance Tristan had with Rory. Tristan had mentioned his Mary to Duncan and Bowman many times when he first started hanging out with them. They'd kept him away from her until that Romeo and Juliet performance where they'd seen how bad he had it. When Tristan got off the phone he remembered even more how it was because of Rory that he was in military school. If she hadn't been so perfect in his eyes, there would've been no reason for him to be so hurt when she said she hated him, when she told Dean she loved him.

When Alex left the room, he'd gone to get a cup of coffee to wake him up after a horrible night's sleep. He also wanted to see Paris; maybe she'd know why Tristan was acting so weird. Alex didn't think he was falling for Paris, but he knew he wanted to see her. As luck would have it, she was the first person she saw when he walked in. The girl she was with looked familiar too.

"Paris, hey."

"Hi Alex. This is my roommate, Rory."

"Hi Rory."

The three sat and talked over their coffee for a little while and Alex just looked at Rory wondering why he thought she looked so familiar. Nothing was clicking in his head, so he just continued to converse with the two girls. A few minutes later Tristan walked in and saw his roommate sitting with Paris and Rory.

"Alex!" he greeted, "hey Paris. Mary."

"Her name's Rory," Alex responded.

"He knows that Alex, he just prefers to torment me."

That's when it finally set in; Alex knew where he'd seen Rory before. Tristan had the yearbook from his sophomore year of high school and he'd often had it open to Rory's picture. Alex never wanted to ask why Tristan stared at that picture, but now that he saw the two together he was getting curious.

"Torment's a harsh word, Mary, I prefer persuade."

"Persuade me to do what?"

"Admit that you want me."

"You're impossible."

"I'm right."

"Whatever Tristan, I thought military school was supposed to cause people to mature, I guess that's not the case in your situation."

With that Rory left the coffee shop and ran back to her room. Paris was trying to hide how much she hated it when Tristan and Rory would have their banter; it was so obvious Tristan was still crazy about Rory. In order to cover up her own feelings, Paris ran after Rory to be the good friend.

Alex decided that he wanted to know what was going on between Tristan and this girl. He'd seen his roommate with other girls, but he'd never acted like that before. There was something about Rory that made Tristan act like a third grader and Alex knew it was something that happened in high school.

"Tristan, what was that about?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The way you acted towards Rory; it seems almost like you're in love with her."

"Stop assuming you know anything!" Tristan snapped and walked off.

He left Alex sitting by himself realizing that there was a lot to this story that Tristan didn't want to tell. Tristan had it bad for Rory and this wasn't a new thing; something happened in the past between them. Alex wanted to know what it was, but he knew Tristan would tell him in time.

"Paris, I don't know how you can see anything in that jerk."

"He's not like that all the time. There is a really good side to him."

Paris wanted to tell Rory that Tristan only acted that way around her; that Tristan had it bad for her. She knew that Rory disliked Tristan strongly enough in high school that the idea of him liking her would make her push him away. Especially with Brian in the picture, Rory would want nothing to do with Tristan. Rory was lying on her bed doing some homework and studying while Paris was staring at the ceiling thinking about Tristan. She was coming up with a plan to get him, but didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

Alex got back to his room to find Tristan once again flipping through that yearbook. He apologized for assuming things about Tristan and Rory and Tristan apologized for snapping. He explained that it was a touchy subject and even he didn't know what was going on.

"Did something happen between you two?"

"When she first came to Chilton she had this innocence to her so I nicknamed her Mary. Most of the girls at the school would've done anything for me, but she was different. At first she was just a conquest; she was the girl that killed my ego. After a while I really started to fall for, even more so after she let me kiss her."

"You kissed her?"

"My girlfriend broke up with me at a party so I went into the piano room to be by myself and Rory was looking for a place to read quietly. She found me at the piano bench and started to talk to me. Every word she said made me completely forget about Summer and the public breakup; she was so amazing that night. No matter how awful I was to her, she still was caring."

"She seems like a great girl. So does Paris."

"I'll get to Paris," Tristan laughed, "anyway that night…Rory sat down next to me and she looked so beautiful. I wasn't sure what took over but I kissed her – then she ran away crying."

Tristan remembered how he felt that night; how rejected Rory made him feel. But after that kiss he'd only wanted her more. Even years later he still remembered exactly how her lips felt on his and wanted more than anything to feel it again.

"In school that Monday I couldn't stop myself from looking at her, I wanted to get over being such an ass and say something, but I couldn't. She told me that we needed to talk and I can't explain how much it killed me when she said it was out of heart break. Then she suggested I take Paris out and I did; I didn't want to hurt Paris but I had it bad for Rory. When things didn't work out with Paris, Rory got pissed off at me so I told her I liked someone else – she assumed Summer."

"Why did she suggest you going out with Paris?"

"Because Paris liked me."

Things were finally becoming clear to Alex about why Paris was so nice to him. She didn't want him; she was using him to get to Tristan. He started to devise a plan to make Paris realize that Alex was not the kind of guy whose mind she could play games with. Alex also realized that there was a lot to the game that Tristan could teach him.

Tristan continued, "a few weeks later I bought concert tickets to this chick that Rory liked because I wanted her to go. Even after she turned me down I told everyone she was going just to do the damage to make her agree. That was the first day I seriously had my heart broken. Her ex boyfriend showed up right before I got her to agree and she told him that she hated me – that she loved him. From there I started hanging out with two guys that got me into trouble and landed me in military school. Rory was the last person I talked to before leaving. I had told the guys not to let me see or talk to her and it worked until she was Juliet to my Romeo. When I got to military school I tried my hardest not to think about her and even started to forget until I saw her again."

Alex started to ask Tristan questions about how he got all those girls in Chilton, military school, and UNC. Tristan could tell that Alex was up to something, but wasn't sure what. Paris was in for a surprise.

The next day Rory went to class to find Tristan once again looking at her. She didn't want to acknowledge him in any way because that would only make things worse. Tristan on the other hand wanted her to know exactly where he was. After class he decided to approach her and tried to promise himself that he'd act mature.

"So, Rory…"

"Wow, you used my name," she interrupted.

"Why aren't you in Harvard? Did they reject you?" Damn it DuGrey!

"Actually I did get in, but I chose Yale. My grandfather went here and it's close to my mother."

"Your mother?"

Tristan wasn't used to people who wanted to be near their parents. All the socialites couldn't care less about their kids, except their images of course.

"My mom had me at 16, she's my best friend."

Tristan was mentally taking notes on ways to get Rory while at the same time being very proud that he was acting his age.

"I'm sure Yale's being good to you."

"Very, but Tristan I have to go. Bye."

"Bye…Mary."

Rory couldn't deny that hearing him say Mary made him smile. She didn't even know why; she was crazy about Brian.