The Night Before Yale
By: Alyson Tierney (old pen name: Halliwellgirls1)
Disclaimer: The characters, Gilmore Girls, and all related things are property of Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB network. I am simply borrowing them to entertain with; I will give them back when I am done.
Note: I started college last fall (2003, can't believe it!) and wrote this story to help alleviate some of my fears about starting, because Rory and I are the same age, so I did everything as she did it.
Rory tossed in her bed. It was nearing one in the morning, her mother and she hadn't gotten in until almost midnight, and after a brief hug and a "How are you doing, babe?" "I'm okay, just tired." "Night." "Night." They'd gone to bed. She couldn't sleep, though. The second she'd turned out the light, thought after thought flowed into her mind, making her unable to sleep, and unable to shut the thoughts out. They were almost deafening.
She tossed a little more, glancing over at the clock, which now read 12:58 AM. If she didn't sleep soon, she was going to be a zombie the next morning. She sighed, rustling Colonel Clucker's wings before sitting up, and slowly getting out of bed. She padded out of her room, dragging the chicken with her. She didn't normally carry the chicken anywhere, but this night he was her most precious possession. She padded out of the kitchen, and up the stairs, pausing when she reached her mother's room.
She knocked softly, "Mommy?" she asked quietly.
"Rory? Get in here, sweetie!" her mom's voice called back, softly. Rory opened the door, peering in the dark to see her mom's silhouette on the bed. She was sitting up, and as Rory came in, reached her arms out towards her daughter, "What is it, darling?" she asked.
Rory said nothing as she crawled on the bed, disposing of Colonel Clucker somewhere along the way of getting on the bed and crawling into Lorelai's arms. She snuggled close, breathing in her mom's scent.
"What is it, baby?" Lorelai sounded concerned, but inwardly she knew exactly what it was, "You wanna talk about it?" Rory nodded, but no sound came out of her mouth, "Okay, let me guess. You're nervous about tomorrow?" she asked.
Rory let out a short laugh, "How'd you guess?" she asked.
"I'm super mom." Lorelai retorted, to which Rory laughed a little but then choked up. "Aww, come here." Lorelai lay back down on the bed, with Rory snuggled on top of her. Lorelai kissed her daughter's forehead, "I'm here." She soothed.
Rory didn't say anything. She didn't want to start crying and she knew if she spilled out her fears then she would cry. She just snuggled against her mom, listening to her heartbeat and feeling the rise and fall of her mother's breathing.
"Not feeling talky, honey?" her mother's voice interrupted Rory's trance. Rory shook her head, tears threatening to spill over. She didn't dare say anything to make her mother think she was crying, "Oh, come on, honey, tell mommy." Lorelai urged. When Rory was silent, Lorelai sighed, "You want me to just guess?" she asked. Rory nodded, hugging her mother tighter, "You're feeling nervous because you think you can't hack it? Because you think you won't make friends? Because you're worried about the workload? Because you're afraid to leave the comforts of home and mommy?" Lorelai guessed.
"All of the above." Rory whispered, afraid that if she used her normal voice her mother would know that she'd now started to cry, her warm tears dripping down her cheeks and onto her mom's pajamas.
"Do you want a reassuring talk or just the snuggles?" Lorelai asked. She knew from experience that hugs and kisses helped sooth Rory's fears just as much as the words did.
"Talk and snuggles, but it doesn't have to be reassuring talk. Just a story would suffice." Rory said. Lorelai nodded, kissing the top of her daughter's head.
"I know just the story." Lorelai said, and Rory snuggled in to listen, "Okay once there was a little girl named Schmory..." she began.
"Schmory?" Rory asked.
"Yes, Schmory. Schmory Dillmore. And this girl named Schmory Dillmore lived with her mommy, Schorelai Dillmore." Lorelai continued.
"Okay, maybe I'm being a broken record, but Schorelai?" Rory asked, smiling a little. It was genuinely obvious that her mom was telling their own story, just switching some names around.
"Yes, Schorelai, now shh!" Lorelai commanded.
"Sorry. Please continue." Rory said
"Now, Schorelai had Schmory when she was sixteen, and raised her all by herself, and this young Schmory was very bright, and all her life she'd wanted to go to Princeton. Schmory spent all her young life with her nose in books, knowing one day that she would get into Princeton. So, when the time came for her to register for colleges, she immediately applied to Princeton, but followed her mother's advice and applied to two other schools, Colombia and Yale. Schorelai and Schmory waited for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks, and even more weeks until voila! The acceptance and rejection letters arrived in the mail. Schorelai ran out and got the mail, and teased her daughter, telling her she'd gotten into two but hadn't gotten into one and let her go all day thinking she'd been rejected from Princeton, and wouldn't let her see the letters. Finally Schmory ripped the letters out of Schorelai's weak, fragile hand and read them. She'd gotten accepted to Princeton, and guess what? Yale! She and her mother jumped up and down for about thirty hours, and then drank gallons of coffee while making their decision. Schmory finally decided she didn't really want to go to Princeton, she was destined to go to Yale! So she registered for Yale, and suddenly the five months she had before she started college became five hours. She crawled into Schorelai's bed and snuggled with her on her last night before college. The next day Schorelai and Schmory drove the 22.8 miles to Yale from their small town of Hars Stallow. Schmory was very nervous as she entered the grounds with her mommy by her side, but suddenly she found herself among other girls and boys just as nervous as she was. She went to find her dorm room, and met her dormies and roomies, and everyone was very, very nice. So nice, in fact, she didn't even mind when her mommy left the room to go to parent's orientation. Schmory went to student's orientation and spent the whole day meeting people who would soon be her friends. She met up with her mommy for dinner, but one of her new friends, Scheena and Scheena's mother sat with them, and talked for a long time. When it was time for the mommies and daddies to leave, Schmory didn't even cry, but Schorlai got a little teary. They said goodbye to their families, and Schmory walked back to the dorm with Scheena, and they talked and talked the whole entire way. The next day, Schmory began her classes, and realized she would be able to do the work. Schmory was very happy, and began to make even more friends, and by the time it was time to go home for Thanksgiving, Schmory felt a part of Yale, even though she hugged and kissed her mother a lot when she saw her again. The moral of this story is: Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, you will love college. I promise you, you will make friends, you will be able to handle everything they throw at you, and mommy will be only 22.8 miles away if you need me." Lorelai finished up.
Rory smiled, wiping away the tear tracks. Her eyes were dry now, she saw her mom's point and knew even though her fears were normal, everything would be okay, "I love you, mommy." Rory whispered, burying her face in her mother's chest.
"I love you too, baby." Lorelai said, and rubbed her hand through her daughter's hair. Within minutes, both were sound asleep.