Hello All! Just a quick note before I start this story off. This is my first Gilmore Girls fiction, and my first story under my new pen-name Backstage-Beauty (I wrote under AllyCat16 a few years ago), so I'm really excited to get to work on it. This chapter is a little short, as it's just an introductory chapter to get things started. The next chapter will probably be up in the next day or so and it'll most likely be a bit longer, so keep an eye out for it. Please let me know what you think...I know there isn't much to go by yet but any feedback would be wonderful. Alright I'll quit babbling and let you get on with the story now, so enjoy, and drop a line if you feel like it. And note that I'll probably do my authors notes at the end of the chapters from now on. Thanks for checking my story out, I hope you like it!

Prologue:

Rory Gilmore sat at her vanity, looking into the mirror and contemplating the young woman that she saw reflected back at her. In reality her shoulder length brown hair curled softly, framing her face in an appealing way, and her sapphire blue eyes popped dramatically against her milky skin. However Rory only saw a plain, ordinary girl looking back at her, and sighed before standing to put on the dress that her grandmother Emily Gilmore had picked out for the party this evening. It was nearing the end of August, and the beginning of the new school year was just three days away; something that Rory was greatly looking forward to. The party itself was, on the other hand, not something that Rory was looking forward to. It was Emily's 'End of Summer' party, that was being held on the patio of the Gilmore Estate, but to Rory it was just another chance for her grandparents to parade her around to all of their friends and tell them about how wonderful and smart their granddaughter is, until she could escape and find a quiet place to read until the party dispersed.

Giving herself a last look over in the mirror after she was in her dress, Rory left the sanctity of her room and made her way down the stairs and through the foyer to the back door where the patio doors were propped open and the earliest of the party goers were already milling about, sipping drinks and chatting quietly. Rory sighed when Emily saw her and motioned for her to join the couple that she and Richard were speaking to.

"Rory, there you are, you look lovely tonight. Now come on over here, there are some people I'd like you to meet. These are old friends of ours Mitchum and Shira Huntzburger." Emily introduced. "This is our granddaughter Rory; she is going to be a junior at Chilton this year"

"The Huntzburger's have spent the last few years over in London working on getting Mitchum's company running smoothly on an international level. The just returned stateside permanently a few weeks ago" Richard also explained as Rory plastered her 'Society Smile' on her face and turned to speak to the couple before her

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr and Mrs Huntzburger, welcome back to Hartford" Rory said, extending her hand first towards Shira, and then Mitchum as they both shook her hand and smiled at her

"It's very nice to meet you as well young lady, thank you for your warm welcome home" Shira said in a sickly sweet and condescending tone that made Rory grit her teeth together so that she would not say anything she would later regret.

"Tell me Rory, how do you like Chilton? My son is going to be a senior this year and we've enrolled him there, with hopes that keeping him closer to home than some of the boarding schools he's been to before will keep him walking the straight and narrow a little easier"

"Oh Chilton is wonderful Mr. Huntzburger. The classes are engaging and the professors are very good at what they do. The competition for the top grades in each class is a tough one, and there are so many bright students to work with, it's really a great place to learn"

"Well I'm glad to here you sing such high praise of the school Rory. Hopefully Logan will be as taken with it as you are. Now if you will all excuse us, we should probably make the rounds and say hello to everyone" Shira excused herself and Mitchum from the conversation. "Emily, I'll give you a call and we'll set up a lunch at the club to get more caught up"

"I'd love that Shira; I look forward to hearing from you"

"It was nice meeting you Rory" Mitchum said politely

"It was nice to meet you too Mr and Mrs. Huntzburger"

"I'm so glad that they are back in town. Shira is so helpful with scheduling DAR functions; simply no one can say no to that woman" Emily gushed as she and Richard also started to make their rounds about the party, leaving Rory to her usual party pass-time.

Looking around to make sure that no one had seen her, Rory ducked into a secluded corner behind the corner staircase and pulled the loose floorboard up, getting her copy of Pride and Prejudice out from where she had hidden it earlier in the day. Settling herself on the window seat that concealed her view from the party but still allowed her to hear the goings on around her; she removed her bookmark and started to read where she had left off in the book, getting absorbed into the world of Miss Elizabeth Bennett.