Chapter 1
It had been almost a week since the car accident. Rory's arm was in a cast and recovering nicely and Jess had been sent back to New York to live with his mom by Luke.
Rory was sad that he had been sent home to New York and frankly she was sick of the people including her own mother who kept accusing him of being a 'bad kid'. It wasn't his fault that a furry thing ran out into the road and yet everyone blamed him like he was on a suicide mission trying to take Rory with him.
Lorelai and Rory had not been in the diner since the accident, her mother denied it but Rory knew that she and Luke had obviously argued. She also knew that it was probably her mother's doing, blaming Jess for the accident and yelling at Luke about it; Poor Luke.
It was a Monday morning and Rory was getting ready for school, Lorelai was in the kitchen cooking pop tarts and reading a fashion magazine. At times there was awkward silence in the Gilmore house, Lorelai not knowing what to say to Rory because she knew she was missing Jess and Rory not knowing what to say to Lorelai because she kind of blamed her for him getting sent away.
Rory came out of her room and asked her mother if she had seen a book of hers. "What one is it?" Lorelai asked. "The Howl" Rory replied. Lorelai told her daughter that she hadn't seen it but would keep an eye out for it. Rory nodded and headed for the door ready for her journey to school.
As she approached the school gates she felt a sick feeling in her stomach. She couldn't do it, she couldn't go on another day and pretend that everything was ok and convince herself that she wasn't missing Jess. She had to tell him that it wasn't his fault and she had to tell him that they were still friends and that she missed him.
For the first time in her life Rory did something she had never done before, she cut school. She went to the local bus station and got on a bus that was heading to New York. She had no idea where she would go after she got off the bus as she didn't know where Jess lived but she had to find him.
After about an hour and a half drive which seemed like forever, she was standing in the New York bus depot.
She had no idea where she was going, she tried to remember if Luke or Jess had ever mentioned anything about where Jess lived before Stars Hollow. After a few moments she remembered Jess mentioning something about "you go pass the sub way, past the hot dog vender named Stan and you turn left". Of course there was no detail to the description; after all it was Jess that had told her.
She spent the next hour trying to finding a subway with a guy named Stan that sold hot dogs outside. After what seemed like forever she found a subway with a man standing by a hotdog trolley shouting out "hotdogs get em' while there hot".
She took a breath and walked over to him. "Excuse me, are you Stan?" she asked nervously. "Yeah I'm Stan, can I help ya kid?" She shook her head and said "no, you just have". She smiled and walked away.
She got to the end of the street and turned left. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It almost looked like what she expected the inside of her and her mother's coffee filled stomachs to look like. She was standing in a smelly, disgustingly dirty street that made her shake to her very core.
She took a few steps forward and stopped. Did she want to go any further, was Jess worth all this, was she going to be safe on her own in this...hovel.
Of course she wanted to go further, of course Jess was worth all this, and no, she might not exactly be safe but she had her cell and her pepper spray on her keys if she needed it.
She looked around and saw dirtiness everywhere. How was she going to find Jess?
She saw a group of kids sitting on some stairs a little further down the street; she approached them slowly and said "hi", they all looked up at her. She continued "I'm looking for my friend, he is about this tall and he has dark hair, he always has a book with him".
One of the children pointed to a building across the street, she looked and saw how run down it looked; no wonder Jess never wanted to talk about where he came from.
"Number 32" said another kid. Rory nodded and thanked them. She walked across the street and saw that main door leading into the apartment block was open; in fact, the lock had been taken off all together.
She swallowed and headed inside. The smell was disgusting. The walls were covered in graffiti and there was dirt all over the floor.
She looked around and saw a map on the wall. It was barely readable but she could just about make out that apartment 32 was on the 4th floor. She slowly made her way up the stairs.
She made it to her destination. By now, her heart was pounding more than it had been the whole time she had been in New York. She walked down the hall to apartment 32 and knocked on the door.
She listened carefully. She heard a bottle roll and heard a slurring voice shout "there's someone at the door".
She then heard footsteps approaching the door. She was the most terrified she had ever been in her life. Should she stand there, should she run, what was coming to answer the door? She was just turning away when the door opened slightly.
She stood frozen until she heard a familiar voice say "Rory?" She turned slowly and saw what she assumed was Jess. She stood frozen in horror at what she was looking at.
"Jess?" she asked. He came out of the apartment and shut the door behind him as not to aggravate his mother. "What are you doing here?" he asked her in a low tone.
She couldn't speak. She must have been in shock. He didn't look like this when he left Stars Hollow, what had happened to him? He was covered in bruises and scrapes all over his face.
Eventually she found her voice again. "What happened to you?" she asked. He looked down at the floor not answering her. "Jess" she said slightly louder. "Shhh" he sounded while grabbing her arm and moving her down the hall.
"Jess, answer me, what happened to you?" He shrugged still not looking at her. She was horrified at his appearance. He noticed the cast on her arm and asked "is your arm ok?"
She huffed and said "you're standing here, covered in bruises, scratches and scrapes and you're asking me if I'm ok?" again he didn't answer.
"Jess, please answer me, what happened to you?" He swallowed and began talking in a barely audible tone.
"Luke sent me home".
She was confused as to what he was getting at until he continued.
"I came home and my mom was mad that I was back. Then her new boyfriend decided to use my face as a punch bag because I wouldn't tell them why I was sent home. Then I had to tell them or else he probably would have killed me"
Rory just stood there staring at him, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Ok, you're coming home with me" she grabbed his arm and straight away regretted it when he flinched in pain. She immediately let go and began to pull up his sleeve to see his arm. He pulled away from her and told her to go home.
Was he being serious, did he really think she was going to leave him there. "You really think I'm going to leave you here?" she asked.
He looked at her and said "I can't go back even if I wanted to. Luke wouldn't take me back and to be honest, I'd rather take my chances here then to go back there; because living in a town where you know that everyone hates you makes this all seem not that bad".
Rory was trying to hold back the tears; he would actually prefer to live a life where he was being beaten constantly then go back to a town where a few people disliked him.
She told him her thoughts only to be snickered at. "It's not that easy Rory, do you know what it feels like to wake up every day and know that everyone within a four mile radius hates you? It's a horrible feeling and it makes you feel dead inside, at least living here I feel something, granted pain isn't that great to feel but it's something".
She didn't know what to say. She was trying to hold back tears but at the same time she wanted to yell at him so badly. Eventually, she did both.
"I care about you, I have for a long time, I like you Jess and I know you know because you kept flirting with me when no one was around. And Luke, Luke cares about you so much and all you do is treat him like dirt..." Jess looked at her and began shouting back.
"He cares huh, if he cares so much then why did he send me back here, I told him I never wanted to come back, granted I never told him why but he did anyway. He didn't want me there, no one does".
Rory shook her head and said crying "please come home". Jess looked at her and replied "I am home".
He told her to go back to Stars Hollow and walked away. She stood there shaking. She didn't know what to do, she felt as though she was going to drop. She wiped her eyes and began to walk away.
The bus ride home was a long and lonely one. She felt terrible. The more she thought about it, the more she blamed her mother and the town for Jess's current situation. If they had just given him a chance then they might not have been so hot headed to send him back to New York.
To be continued...
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