Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews! They really gave me some great ideas, and I promise I will expand on the Chris/Rory/Sherry relationship in this chapter. And later, somewhere we will have Rory soaked, at a grave! Keep involved please.
I started to feel warm and calm when I thought of him, but no I didn't deserve that. My mother was dead, I was nowhere near home, and this was it. I decided to just put the best face on and get the hell away from this poor excuse for a human near me.
"That's a really sweet offer, but my uhm, step mom? She wants me home straight after school, bonding you know?" I said trying to make it sound plausible, Sherry wasn't technically my step mom, but the bonding thing was no lie. I'd almost be trading one peppy cheerleader for another.
"Well if you guys finish early call me, ks?" She said handing me her number and dancing off, probably to have wild kinky sex with her bad boy Jess. The thought made me giggle. And I wandered off towards home.
When I slid in the door, the home cheerleader was there with an excited face. "I made reservations at the spa, I thought we could use some girl time, then maybe some shopping?" She asked me almost proud of herself.
I just nodded at her. "Just let me change quick, then we can go." Mostly I listened to her babble about life, but anything was better then staying in this house. Christopher completely cold-shouldered me. It was like it hurt him to speak even look at me. I know he missed my mom, but it still pissed me off. He ordered me here, most likely on Sherry's request though. She needed a playmate. I knew by the way she took me everywhere, blowing massive amounts of money on me and didn't even blink. It wasn't the money, it was the happiness she got out of sharing, and she told me at least. She had one thing going for her though; she never once tried to talk about my mom with me. No understanding, no questions, no pity. It was taboo and I wanted it that way. Luke had suggested I go to a therapist. Which shocked me, him of all people saying that, it must have freaked him out just at the thought. He cared, and it still brought me to tears. I called him almost every night. It was mostly him catching me up on what was happening in town. Patty, Kirk, Taylor, all the old players. At the end of the conversation I always told him I loved him, and miraculously he grunted back the same.
My relationships with everyone else had changed. I blew off Layne, her perky teenage life just made me jealous. Dean had called once, but it was all so awkward, just talking to him made me think of Jess. Being with Jess, around him and well under him. Of course the Gilmore's called frequently. Sherry invited them for Christmas, and they must have really missed me, because Emily accepted with excitement. Even though she despised Sherry. They also sent me gifts regularly. Expensive things I had no use for mostly, unless Grandpa got his say, then there were books, all sorts of them, each as interesting as the next. I absorbed them, sometimes they were my life line.