Singing in Global Studies
Singing in Global Studies
Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or Ai Ootsuka's lyrics.
About this FanFic: Rory is a junior: her third year of Chilton. This is before Romeo and Juliet.
Authors Notes: Alright, I read this over and hated myself for ever posting it. I almost cried because of the grammatical mistakes. In my defense I was younger when I wrote this. However, now I feel that it's my duty to keep future people from ever laying their eyes on this monstrosity! So now, without further yammering:
Chapter One
"Class," Mr. Cambridge's tone caught Rory's attention and she glanced up from her notepad. "It seems that we have finally made it to the last semester." He didn't sound that excited out it. In fact, his voice was as dry as dust.
The Global Studies professor took his time as he strolled down each aisle of desks. He placed a sheet of paper in front of every student he passed.
"For this marking period you'll break into groups of two. You'll create a presentation about the country in which you've received." He placed a paper on Rory's desk and she half expected it to read Rory Gilmore and Paris Gellar: Hitler's Germany. That would be as ironic as it got.
"Now, please draw on the creativity that Chilton has tried so hard to beat out of you." The joke sounded wrong mixed with his hoarse tone. "I don't want the marking period to end and have eight of the groups stand in front of the class reading a report on their country's involvement in one of the World Wars." He spoke from experience.
Rory Gilmore and Tristan DuGrey: Japan was written across Rory's paper in large block letters. She couldn't take her eyes off of that small sentence. She couldn't believe it. But then again, she could. This was Chilton after all: the place where nightmares came to life and torture was invented.
Mr. Cambridge continued to drawl on, "Your project can be about the country's food, books, transportation, or music. It really doesn't matter." He paused; rethinking his last comment after some of the sophomores in the back started snickering. "As long as I approve of the subject, you can use whatever you want."
Part of the class groaned.
Rory began fidgeting. She couldn't even imagine what the next, give-or-take, two months were going to be like. It was going to be hell. Tristan was no better than Paris, except for the fact that he was filled to the rim with an unhealthy amount of testosterone.
Mr. Cambridge stood at the front of the class. His arms folded naturally over his chest. "If the freedom I have graciously given you has not inspired you to do well, remember that this project is worth 50 percent of your final grade."
Rory gulped as the overhead bell rang. She knew better than to count on Tristan for anything. He could barely get through a class without being sent to the Headmaster's office. Then a thought struck her. She might be able to convince Tristan to just let her do all the work. All he would have to do was stand in front of the class at the end of the project, smile, and pretend that he cared a rat's ass about Japan's culture.
So, with some newly found hope, Rory shoved her books into her already enormous backpack and stood up. Her gaze instantly went to the seat that Tristan normally occupied. However, as luck would have it, he wasn't there.
With a frown plastered over her face Rory left the classroom, only to bump into the vicious triplets.
"What did you get?" Madeline asked Rory. She was the only one Rory actually liked. She always had a smile on her face and, even though she wasn't the brightest kid in school, she was nice.
"Japan." Rory was distracted. She scanned the hallway, but didn't catch the sight of Bible Boy.
"Oh that's so cool." Madeline's dark curls bounced as she nodded. "I got Brazil." She didn't sound that enthusiastic. "Japan is so much better then Brazil. All you have to do is make a swan out of paper and call it organizing."
"It's Origami." Paris corrected as she slammed open her locker. It was hard to believe that there wasn't a dent on the one beside hers because of the way she threw the door back like that.
Then, not seeing any option, Rory turned to the dark haired girl. "Hey Madeline," She hesitated long enough to grab Paris's attention, "Have you seen Tristan?
"He's been out for the week." Louise answered instantly.
"Yeah, he got pulled out of class on Tuesday." Madeline added. "Why?" The dreaded question.
Rory didn't have a chance to reply when Paris grabbed her assignment out from her hands. "You're working with Tristan?"
"Unfortunately." Rory sullenly agreed.
"Ah, you're so lucky!" Madeline gushed like a schoolgirl, "I wish I had him as my partner."
"Why? He's never in school long enough to learn anything. He would be any help, unless your country was Juvenile Hall." Paris grumbled and thrust the paper back into Rory's hands.
Rory actually agreed with Paris on that one, but didn't say anything.
"I got stuck with Astrid." Madeline moped, "She's worst than the science nerds. At least they don't talk to me. Astrid never shuts up!"
Louise jabbed Madeline in the side and the dark haired girl instantly stopped her rant.
Rory left the trio and went to her own locker. She wasn't sure what to do. Tristan was obviously going AWOL again. Maybe that was a good thing though. She could finish everything herself.
So, after exchanging her books, she went off to her next class. She hoped that there weren't any more delightful surprises for her there.
GG
"What can I getcha?" Luke already has his order pad out by the time Rory hauled her backpack into the diner and took a seat at the counter.
"Just coffee." She started pulling out her books, which made a pile as high as the top of the cash register.
Luke made a disapproving sound in the back of his throat, "You gotta eat."
"I'll eat later." Her complete attention was on Japan. Rory had gone to the library after school and checked out everything they had and considering that this was Stars Hollow and that they had more books on grated cheese than the Revolutionary War, that wasn't saying much. They only had three books that weren't titled Mulan.
"Fine," Luke said gruffly after Rory didn't say anything, "I'm bringing you a salad with a side of broccoli."
That definitely got her attention. "Wait!" Luke stopped before he got to the door to the kitchen. "I'll have a double order of curly fries and a cheeseburger."
That didn't exactly make him happy, but Luke wrote down her order and continued his way into the back.
Rory didn't turn back to her homework right away. She thought about Luke for a minute. She couldn't remember how long she'd known him, but she felt like she knew him better than her own dad. He hardly ever smiled, but still. Luke had always been there for her, and for her mom.
As she started wondering why Luke and her mom never got together the diner's front door opened and a blast of frosty air hit her from behind.
"Need coffee now!"
Rory looked over her shoulder as her mom spilled into Luke's Diner. She was dressed for work, but some of her hair had fallen out of its ponytail and her clothes were wrinkled. She obviously hadn't had a great day either.
"Keep your pants on!" Luke barked from the kitchen.
Lorelai, the woman without patience, went behind the counter as if it were an everyday occurrence. "Hey sweets." She greeted her one and only daughter as she poured her and Rory a cup of coffee.
"Hey," Rory snuck a glance over her mother's shoulder to make sure the grumpy diner owner wasn't on his way back yet. "How was your day?" She would see how much damage her mom's day had before divulging into her own problems.
Lorelai groaned dramatically, "It was awful! Michelle was screaming, Sookie decided to dedicate the kitchen to lemons, and to top it off… Emily was there!"
"Grandma? Why?" Rory gawked before taking a sip of her coffee. The brew was just right: strong.
Lorelai walked back around the counter and took the stool next to Rory. "I don't know! She just kept complaining about my tablecloths, forks, and the number of times I answer the phone with "hello" instead of "Lorelai Gilmore, forever two in my mother's eyes." She rolled her eyes and dropped her forehead to the counter. "She's there for some DAR thing or something."
Then Lorelai propped her head on up her elbow and turned to Rory with a smile across her now awake face. "What about you? Anything out of the ordinary happen?"
"I have to work on a project, worth 50 percent of my final grade, with The Spawn of Satan."
GG
"I heard you were looking for me yesterday."
The day couldn't get any worse by the time Rory made it to her locker. She had woken up late, had to chase her bus down two blocks after she missed it at her stop, and hadn't had any coffee in her system at all. This was definitely not the best time for a run in with Mr. DuGrey.
But Tristan had never cared about that before, so there he was.
"I was, but I'm not now."
Rory thought she might have seen confusion in Tristan's eyes, but it was soon replaced with his usual pride induced arrogance.
"Oh now, don't get all shy on me now." He smirked as he followed her as Rory made her way towards her locker. It was in her sight. "If there was something you needed to get off your chest, please, tell me now. You can't keep living with that weight."
Rory rolled her eyes, "I'm not in the mood for this Tristan. So why don't you just turn around, find those idiot friends of yours, and go pull and bank job or something. You haven't tried that yet." Her voice was dry with sarcasm.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tristan fix her with a look. He obviously wasn't one to be patient either.
He turned to leave as Rory unlocked her locker. Her backpack was weighing down her shoulder and she plopped it on the hallway floor. "Tristan, wait!" She hated herself for calling him back. The conversation they were about to have would only end in tantrums.
"Yeah?" He was aggravated.
Rory groaned in frustration before turning back to him, "Look, I need to talk to you about the Global Studies assignment. I have a few ideas and I could do them all myself, but since you're my partner-"
"Wait," Tristan took a long stride forward, "What?"
"In Mr. Cambridge's class." She hinted, then when she saw that he had no idea what she was talking about she explained the assignment.
His face broke out into a lopsided grin, "You and me, partnered together?"
Oh boy.
"The powers that be must be working together to get us together now that you've denied your feelings towards me."
"Either that or I pissed off someone up there." Rory grumbled under her breath as she kneeled down and began repacking her backpack.
"So what were you thinking?" Tristan leaned against the locker beside hers. "You want to get together after school? Your house or mine?" Rory definitely didn't like the way he said that.
Once she was finished she closed her locker and stood back up, "I was thinking we could just talk after school before my bus came. It shouldn't take too long to come up with an idea." Tristan coming to Stars Hollow did not sound good to her. The last thing she needed was for him and Dean to have a rematch.
Tristan's smirk deepened, "I don't know. This project will be 50 percent of our final grades. You do want to do well, don't you?"
Rory closed her eyes briefly and wished she had remembered to set her alarm clock the night before. If she had done that, than none of this would be happening. She would have coffee and maybe she would have missed this interaction between Bible Boy.
"We'll just talk later, okay?" Then, with her backpack swung over her shoulder, she headed towards her first class.
"Looking forward to it, Mary!" Tristan called after her.