BACKGROUND: Rory and Jess had a daughter, Emma, when they were 21. Rory married Jess when she was 22 and they moved to New York.
SUMMARY: Rory and Jess move back to Connecticut and now their daughter is attending Chilton. Follows Emma during her first year at Chilton. Main focus on daughter. Future Fic AU
DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I own nothing.
AUTHOR NOTE: This is my first fic so bare with me. Feedback is always welcome, I will take anything.

Hell, a place or state of misery, torment, or wickedness. There she was, Rory Gilmore, standing at the gates of hell, again.

"Mom, come on. I don't want to be late," whined Rory's daughter.

Her daughter's voice snapped her back to reality. Rory, her husband, and her daughter, Emma, just moved back to Connecticut from New York City. This meant that Rory's daughter would now have to attend the best school in Connecticut, Chilton. "Right. Well here we go."

They walked through the halls of Chilton and went into the Headmaster's office. Once inside an annoying voice said, "How can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Rory Gilmore and this is my daughter Emma. We are here to see the headmaster."

"Headmaster Charleston has been expecting you, go right in." With that they went into the office. It hadn't changed a bit. Every book and every picture frame seemed to be in the exact spot as it was when Rory first sat in that office. Rory took a deep breath and was greeted by the Headmaster.

"It is great to see you again Ms. Gilmore. Please take a seat." Rory and Emma sat in to two big chairs in front of his desk. Rory felt like she was 15 again sitting there with Headmaster Charleston telling her all that Chilton had to offer her. He was giving the same spiel that she got when she first started. Rory glanced over at Emma and noticed that she was paying close attention to what the headmaster was saying. Emma was almost an exact replica of Rory. They had the same piercing blue eyes and silky brown hair. She wasn't as naïve as her mother but she was still innocent. Emma has more spunk then Rory had at her age.

"Well, welcome to Chilton Ms. Mariano. On your way out you can pick up your schedule."

"Thank you Headmaster Charleston," Emma said politely and walked out of the office with her mother. She picked up her schedule and looked over it. To her mother she said, "Was Chilton this uptight back when you went here?"

Rory chuckled, "Yes it was. God, this place hasn't changed a bit." Rory glanced down at her watch. "Crap, I have to go meet your grandmother in like 20 minutes. Have a great day sweetie and I will pick you up after school."

"Have fun mom, bye." She gave her mom a quick hug and wandered through the halls looking for her locker.

"112, 114, 116, ahh, here it is 118," she said out loud. She spun the combination and started unloading her books. Just then three girls came up to her.

"You're new aren't you?" the girl with long blond hair said condescendingly. She was about 5'5" with green eyes.

"Jeeze, nothing gets past you does it?" Emma retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The girl with short brown hair giggled at her remark. "Shut up Lily," the blond girl snapped. Lily stopped giggling and looked at the ground. "And you," she said pointing to Emma, "better watch out." With that the blond girl and her posse turned around and walked away.

Emma turned back to her locker and finished unpacking her books. She heard a female voice say, "Just ignore them. They like to think they rule the school."

"I was planning to."

The girl was about the same height as Emma, 5'7, with mid-length curly blonde hair and brown eyes. "Oh and by the way, I'm Ashley Conway. One of the only normal people here at this grand school" She extended her hand and Emma shook it.

"I'm Emma Mariano."

"So what's your first class?"

Emma glanced down at her paper. "I have English with Medina."

"Sweet, I'm in that class what are your other classes?" After asking her she snatched her schedule and looked over it. "Well it seems we have 5 classes together. I can show you around."

"Thanks." They started walking down the hall to their English class.

"So why did you decide to come to Chilton?"

"My parents and I just moved here from New York and since my mom went here she figured I should go here. Not to mention my Great Grandma pretty much demanded it."

"Why did you move here?"

"My great grandpa just died and my grandma needed moral support so here we are. We are a pretty close-knit family."

"That must be nice." Realizing what she just said, " God, not nice that your grandpa died, but that you have a close-knit family, god that sounded horrible."

"Nah, it's alright, I knew what you meant."

"Well here is our class."

Emma grabbed a seat next to Ashley. Once class started Mr. Medina started to call role. When he got to Emma's name he said, "Well it appears we have a new student. Ms. Mariano care to introduce yourself."

Emma stood up and said, "Hi, I'm Emma. And that is pretty much it." She quickly sat back down.

Mr. Medina looked at her. "Did I have a sibling of yours before? You look really familiar."

"I'm an only child so I would hope not. My mom went here ages ago."

"Maybe that is it. Well, today we start Shakespeare." The class groaned. "Come on, it's not that bad. My goal is by the end of this section that you all appreciate Mr. Shakespeare."

"I don't that is possible," said a male voice from the back.

"And why is that Mr. Dugrey?"

"Because I mean it is Shakespeare. It's all mumbo jumbo. Who seriously talks like that anyway?" Emma rolled her eyes at this response. Typical response she thought.

Mr. Medina ignoring this response started letting the class know about a major project that was coming up. "Okay so I have paired you all off. You will have to pick one of Shakespeare's plays and perform a short scene from it. That and a 10 page paper about the meaning of the play. Okay here are the pairs Conway and Steale, Rogers and Morgan, Dugrey and Teague, Mariano and Prescott…" The bell rang and the students all got up and left the classroom. Emma walked out with Ashley and they headed back to their lockers.

"I am so sorry." Ashley said.

"Why is that?" Emma inquired.

"That you got partnered with Jacob Prescott. He is a real ass. He likes to think that he is the King of Chilton. God he is so arrogant."

"Great," she mumbled. As if on cue Jacob walked up to them. He was about 6'0 shaggy brown hair and really good looking.

"Hello ladies," Jacob said leaning on the locker in front of the two girls.

"Back off Jacob, we don't want to catch anything."

Ignoring her comment Jacob said in all politeness and charm to Emma, "Hi I'm Jacob Prescott. I believe you are my partner for our little Shakespeare project."

"I believe I am. I'm Emma." Smiling and blushing a little.

Jacob just smiled and said, "Well I guess I will see you around, Emma." And with that he was on his way. Emma could only smile.

"What was that all about?" Ashley asked.

"What?" Emma asked innocently.

"That whole smiling and batting your eyes thing."

"I was not batting my eyes." Emma watched Jacob walk down the end of the hall. "He doesn't seem that bad."

"Oh no, he's gotten to you. Just be careful, okay."

"I will."

It was finally lunch. Emma scoped out the cafeteria for an empty table. As soon as she found one she sat down and grabbed a book out of her backpack. She took out Anna Karenina. This was one of her favorite books but she wasn't really in the mood for it so she slid it back into her bag. The next book she grabbed out was a tattered copy of Howl. Every time she looked at this book she would smile remembering the story behind it. How her father "stole" it from her mom and then wrote notes in the margins. She started reading it when Jacob came and sat down in front of her.