Romance

Possibly Ooc

Might be Au

I'm messing with the timeline a bit. I know Chris doesn't show up until the 14th episode of season one, well after Rory has already started Chilton, but that's not the case here. I will be tweaking the timeline throughout the story to fit my needs. And not just the show timeline, I may add things to the story that didn't exist yet in the year the story is set in, music, movies, technology, etc. The story starts in 2000. Not sure if that's canon.

I have no beta.

~Chapter One~

The Hayden Estate was huge and located in Hartford Connecticut. Far past downtown, away from the nightlife and clubs, and completely removed from any high crime areas in the city. This was where old money dwelled, the central area for the bluebloods living in the capital city of CT.

But, of course, where else would her grandparents live?

Hayden's had been living in the general area for generations, and in that exact estate for a few of those more recent generations. It was a large home, though the word 'home' doesn't quite cover it. More like manor, mansion.. estate really was the best way to describe it.

There were more than two dozen rooms, a pool house, guest house, stables, and fifty acres of land... yeah, estate really was the only word that worked.

The only son and heir of Straub and Francine Hayden, was Christopher, her father. And then there was her, Julie. She was nearly sixteen, and wasn't her father's only child. Julie had a sister, a twin, Lorelai "Rory" Gilmore. She (Jules) was younger, by about ten minutes.

Though she didn't know the exact details, she did know soon after she and her sister were born her grandparents threatened to fight for custody of the newborns. Something about a pottery shed at an inn, blackmail, and the afore mentioned threat of taking their mother, also Lorelai Gilmore, to court ended in one twin staying with their mother, and the other (her) being given to the Hayden's.

And so Jude Rose Gilmore, became Julie Rose Hayden.

She didn't really blame her grandparents, even though she truly believed they didn't fight for her because they wanted her, more like they didn't want the Gilmore's to get two while they got nothing. She was a Hayden because of pride and principle, not love or desire for family. Still, she didn't blame her grandparents, despite that, they had ensured she had a good life, a great life.

Jules never wanted for anything, and had more privileges than she could probably comprehend. She was an heiress, raised in the heart of society, and more than a little spoiled. And just because they didn't take her because they wanted her, didn't mean they didn't come to care for her... they did... in their own way.

No, if she was being completely honest, she could admit; it was her mother she resented most. She felt the woman had bartered her away, so she could keep her other child, her first born, her namesake. The relationship between mother and daughter much resembled the relationship between her twin and their father... it was all but nonexistent.

She was her father's daughter, his princess, and Rory belonged to their mother, it was just the way things turned out.

Not for lack of trying, her parents had attempted to stay connected to the children they didn't have custody of. But she and her father had lived in Southern California for the past four years, and neither Jules nor Chris were great at keeping in touch via phone or email. Even when they wanted to, and she didn't really want to.

The one dark spot, in her opinion anyway, was the fact that this meant there was little to no connection between the twins. It was something that bothered Jules, and she assumed Rory, given the comments her sister made when they did manage to have any sort of substantial conversation. Still, while she did feel cheated out of the bond twins are supposed to have, she also knew she and Rory had grown up in different worlds, and probably had very little in common.

That was why she was so conflicted on the newest development in her life.

Jules and her father had been back in Connecticut for almost a week, getting settled into the guest house (Chris had insisted they not live in the main house with his parents) when she was summoned to her grandparents informal sitting room. They proceeded to inform her that her twin had been accepted to Chilton Preparatory School, and would be starting in several days.

Of course they had decided Jules would go to the same school.

Some might assume it was an act of kindness on her grandparents' part. A way for her and her twin to connect after years apart, and the little contact between them before her and her father had even moved to the other side of the country to begin with. Those people would be wrong. Straub and Francine Hayden were all about image and pride. Jules may have grown... fond... of her fathers' parents, but she wasn't blind to their faults.

They wanted to show her off, to highlight the difference between the twin with the Hayden name and the one who had the Gilmore name and was raised 'poor.' It wasn't even about intelligence, though she was very smart, from what she understood Rory was more gifted than her in academics. It was about social standing, that she, Jules, was a true heiress. Raised to take her 'rightful place' in their world. Whereas Rory was raised by a maid in a shed for a good portion of her childhood.

It was cruel, unfair, and exactly what she expected of them.

And of course she was set to start the same morning as Rory.

On one hand, Jules was excited to attend school with her twin, on the other.. not so much. Being so close to her and their mother came with expectations, and not just the ones they would form, but her fathers as well. Her Gilmore grandparents would no doubt expect things too. She wasn't sure she wanted to, or was ready to, accept these people in her life in a more... significant role.

But her time to decide had run its course, her father was forcing her to accompany him to Stars Hollow, the small town Rory and their mother lived in.

At least they were taking the bike...

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