AN: I'm so glad eveyone is still liking the story! And I'm glad people liked the coffee scene in the last chapter, I thought it was kind of cute. Anyway, here, as promised is the next chapter!
Litlover: you might remember that Tristan nearly killed Louise's boyfriend when they were fourteen, he was Matt's cousin. Louise believes that Matt has always blamed her for that and that's why he hates her. She's wrong though.
Tristan didn't consciously know anything but Finn suggests that he may have known something deep-down and also hints that the rest of the group may have had an idea that Liz was cheating on him as well.
Who knows how Jay got the necklace? And no, noone's asked the question of why it was out in the open, because it was sort of hidden with paper clips and such.
Shakamia: thanks for the advice, it really helped when writing this chapter!
Karah06: Thank you so much for your awesome review!
Jiiana: piss off then
Disclaimer: I don't own GG - Duh!
Tristan left the dining hall with Matt and Finn before the girls were finished. Rory didn't see him until she was at her locker. He stood at his, a few bays down with Matt and Paris. She smiled, touched by his simple gesture at breakfast. Slinging her satchel into her locker and staggering under the weight of her books for class she started off down the hall.
"Hey guys…ready for class?" She asked quickly.
Matt nodded and Paris rolled her eyes.
"Am I ever not?"
Rory shrugged and turned to Tristan.
"How about you?"
He looked down at her blankly and silently turned to walk into class.
"I can't believe it," Rory said bitterly as she took her seat between Paris and Madeline.
Madeline looked down at her bare desk and Paris played with her fingernails.
"Okay, what? What! Paris you never pick at your nails! What?"
Paris sighed.
"Well Rory…you can hardly blame him"
"What!" Rory hissed.
"You told him in front of everybody that his girlfriend cheated on him, it was pretty tactless," Madeline said quietly, her eyes still trained on her desk.
"Ooh and you're the height of tact Madeline" Rory scoffed.
Madeline rolled her eyes and raised her arms in self-defense.
"All I'm saying is
that you didn't have to do that. You've shattered ever image he
had of Liz as the perfect girl he loved. You could have just kept it
to yourself but you wanted t get back at him"
Rory rolled her
eyes but Paris jumped in,
"She's right Rory, he loved Liz long before you came along. She changed him, she was good for him and knowing him for a few weeks no matter how close you this you may have become doesn't give you the right to do that. Sometimes it's not enough for things just to be the truth"
"But he accused me of knowing about Jay…he believes Jay's guilty"
"A lot of people do," Madeline interceded.
Rory whipped her head around to face her.
"Excuse me?"
"Well the evidence is compelling is all, I'm not saying I think he did it…" Madeline stammered, realising what she had said.
It was too late though, Rory had jumped to her feet, collecting her books.
"Rory," Paris called as she ran from the room. In his seat up the back Tristan smiled.
Rory's shoulders shook with each sob as she sat on the low wall running around the interior courtyard.
"Rory,"
She didn't lift her head when she heard the deep voice, instead she swiped quickly at her face in a vain attempt to make it look as though she hadn't been crying. He was standing in front of her.
"Come on, let's get out of this place, I'll take you into town for lunch," He offered.
She nodded, slowly getting to her feet and letting Matt take her hand.
He drove to a café. She didn't know what she was doing with him, she didn't like him, she had a feeling she knew who she really liked…maybe this would get a reaction out of him, dating his roommate. She tried to smile maliciously but fell short of it. The ordered lunch but it was over coffee that they really talked.
"Do you believe your brother?" Matt asked
"Of course I do," Rory replied, annoyed he'd even ask that.
"As fervently as you believed Tristan?"
She stayed silent, she couldn't…wouldn't answer that. Matt smirked.
"So if Jay didn't do it…and Tristan didn't do it, who did?" He pushed on.
Rory shifted uncomfortably in her seat and took another sip of her coffee.
"A stranger," she finally said.
Matt looked up at her, he thought she wasn't going to answer, was going to withdraw again.
"A stranger," She repeated, "…someone she didn't know…who didn't know her."
Matt dropped Rory off at the main school building before driving to Debelar to park. He smiled t himself, he liked her, and she was a nice girl. He'd liked Liz too. She'd been more beautiful if not as intelligent as Rory. And she had been a nice girl as well, she didn't sleep around, didn't a guy according to his bank balance, didn't drink too much, didn't dance like a cheap slut. When she'd been with Tristan she'd been perfect, even with the midnight rendezvous' Matt was forced to camp out in the common room for. Of course, that was before he'd found out about Justin. He'd walked in on them at a Del Sol party one weekend Tristan had been away. At first Matt had been confused, he'd thought Justin had attacked her only a few months before. But then it had dawned on him, he'd realised…she was just like all those other girls. She had begged him not to tell Tristan, had told him she'd do anything, but he was disgusted by her, he didn't want her anywhere near him. He'd never promised her he wouldn't tell and had enjoyed watching her walking on eggshells for the first few weeks. Eventually though, she realised, he'd never tell. He'd never tell.
"Rory!"
Rory turned when she heard Louise's voice. She killed her smile before it could appear, she was beginning to feel like Tristan, not knowing who her friends were.
"Where were you?" Louise asked, she had heard about what had happened that morning.
"I was in town, with Matt. He took me out for lunch"
Louise fell into silent step next to Rory on their way to class.
"So you guys are dating?"
Rory shrugged.
"Rory you can't!" Louise burst out.
Rory turned,
"Why not?"
"He's strange…there's something wrong with him"
"What are you talking about?" She asked.
Hurriedly, Louise told her about her run-in with Matt in the common room of Debelar.
"It's like he's bi-polar," Louise concluded, "You never known what you're going to get with him. One moment he's your best friend, the next he's turned on you. And once h turns on you, he never backs down. He's hated me for years. Sure, you guys don't see it, it's only ever behind closed doors with him."
"I think you're over-reacting" Rory told her as they arrived at Chilton's hall, but she had to admit, there was something about Matt that was not quite right, something in those lovely green eyes.
"How was your date?" Tristan asked bitterly when Matt made it to his locker. Tristan had seen them leaving together, had watched them come back. Matt just shrugged and grinned. He looked like a wolf when he did that, Tristan thought, with those green eyes.
"I had fun, she's a great girl,"
Tristan clenched his fists, fighting the urge to beat the grin of his friend's face.
Rory and Louise made their way to Theatre Studies. The teacher, Mrs. Kennedy, had been freaking out lately, after Liz and with Jay in jail, she'd had to replace her two leads. Tristan had been offered the role of John Proctor next to Paris as Elizabeth and Summer had taken over as Abigail Williams.
"Well that's fitting," Louise said dryly, "…at least we won't have to sit through her attempting to play a bitch."
Rory giggled. Louise was playing Mary Warren with Rory as Ruth Putnam. All they had to do really was a lot of dancing and screaming and carrying on. It was rehearsal day although they didn't go live for another few weeks.
Rory stood backstage, watching the Jason hopelessly trying to invoke the character of Reverand Hale while an African-American girl Rory thought was named Cassie was loudly proclaiming that she only had to play Tituba "because I'm black!" through a break in the curtains.
"You know," Matt said behind her, "I never got my end-of-date kiss." His breath caressed her ear lobe but she felt repulsed. She blushed and turned to face him. When she did he saw his chance, leaning forward and capturing her lips with his. She tried to pull away but when she did his arms wrapped tightly around her. She had her hands pushed against his chest, trying to pull away when she saw Tristan behind Matt, staring at them coldly. Finally she pushed Matt away and, after giving him a filthy look, made her way out to the front of the stage.
Tristan had taken centre stage, and, surrounded by his accusers had fallen to his knees.
"Because it's my name!" He cried, his eyes imploring them silently. "Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies!" He pounded the floor with his fist and Rory jumped. "Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of hem that hang!"
Rory cool eyes washed over him. He spread his arms.
"How may I live without my name?" He cried, staring at Summer now, at his accuser. "I have given you my soul; leave me my name"
As she watched him, his chest heaving as he drew in as much breath as he could, his shoulders hunched and his eyes red she doubted that Arthur Kennedy had been as convincing on Broadway in 1953.
AN: My year 12 class performed "The Crucible" for Theatre Studies, and when I started writing this I thought it would be so perfect given the content matter, especially that scene with Tristan as John Proctor, speaking directly at Summer. R&R!
