A/N: Here's the next chapter. Thanks to my beta Laura aka Danishgirl9 and my reviewers, you are great. I own nothing at all... Caro

3

One month had passed since Rory had started Chilton. It had become more bearable. The work kept her from thinking about the other students. But every break one of the guys who hung out with Paris would be waiting at her locker to tease her. Just before this class it had been Logan Huntzberger, the unofficial king of the school. His father was the newspaper mogul Mittchum Huntzberger who had been one of Rory's role models before she started Chilton but now that she knew his son that view had changed. In her eyes Huntzberger senior had become a cold hearted society father who gave a shit about his son's life ... if Logan's behavior was any indication.

"Well, Mary how has your day been up until now?" he asked not making any room for her to get to her locker. He knew if he let her put away her things she would completely ignore him. A Huntzberger was never ignored, especially not by a girl who had no money. But she would so he had to do something against it.

"Logan, I need to get to my locker." Rory tried to push him away but he would not move a millimeter. "Logan, move! I need my things, I have a class!" she said more forcefully. He just smirked.

"Say please, Mary!"

She tried to stare him down but wasn't succeeding.

Suddenly, a voice was heard from behind her and the smirk was swiped of his face. Even though he and Paris were friends he was scared of her. That girl had a real temper. "Logan, leave her alone. We have to work on a project and she needs her things. If she doesn't have her things, we won't get an A and you know what happens then!" she said in her Paris voice. Slowly, Logan moved away from the locker and gave Rory one last smirk turned around and left. Probably to make out with his flavor of the week.

Rory opened her mouth to say something but Paris cut her off. "Don't say anything! I didn't do it for you! Now hurry up!" she said. The brunette had to hide a small smile. She and Paris had somewhat built a tentative friendship over the last month. Although neither of them would ever admit it. They had almost every class together and because Paris had the best record in school they were always paired up so that Rory could adjust better.

The blonde acknowledged the other's thirst for knowledge. Rory's hard work impressed her so she looked past the lack of money. But what was really bugging Paris was that Rory got all the attention of the guys. Even Louis, Stephanie and Madeline had noticed that and they did not like it one bit. They were already planning her downfall.

The two left to go to their next class where they would work on another project.

---

Rory came home that afternoon to find Lane in her bedroom listening to loud music and dancing wildly. She just put her bag away with a shake of her head before heading to Luke's. It didn't even disturb her that her best friend was in her room acting all crazy. With a mother like Mrs. Kim she would probably do the same thing.

Well, now she needed a cup of coffee and hoped to meet her mother although meetings were rare this week because Lorelai was arranging some things for Rory's upcoming birthday which would be this Friday. Of course, Rory was completely giddy about that. She loved birthdays especially if her mom planned a surprise.

That was not the only surprise though. Yesterday, the Limo Boys, a nickname Rory had come up with since they had shown up at school in a limousine one day, were all waiting at her locker, reading cards. Apparently, they were invitations to her birthday party at the elder Gilmore's house this Friday. Her grandmother had told them last week that she wanted to throw a party for her granddaughter. Rory had thought just a few business colleagues of her grandfather's would be coming but Emily Gilmore had outdone herself again. She had invited Rory's whole class without even asking her. Of course, Lorelai thought Rory knew about this and she did not plan on correcting her mother. The relationship between Lorelai and her mother had just gotten better.

Naturally, Rory was a little afraid of the party since she didn't really know anyone from her class and she would like it better if she could just have the party that was now planned for Saturday. The whole town of Star's Hollow would be coming. It promised to be a crazy party.

---

Finally, Thursday night arrived and Lorelai was shooing her daughter off to bed. "Rory, I am serious, if you don't go to bed now, I'm not coming with you to the party in hell tomorrow!" Lorelai said.

Her daughter wouldn't go to bed because she wanted to know what kind of surprises she would be getting come tomorrow. "Besides you need your beauty sleep, you're getting old." with that she left Rory alone in her bedroom. The only answer she got was an indignant "Hey!"

It took Rory at least an hour before she fell asleep. She was just dreaming about Paris ordering her around in a meeting for the Franklin, the school's paper, when her mother entered her room and pushed her a little to the side so there was room for the both of them in the small bed. Rory looked at the clock, 4:03 am it read, and knew what was coming.

"Hey, sweetie! It's your birthday. Right now you're getting sixteen years old. You know, time really flew by. Too fast if you ask me. I still remember you running around the house in your dancing dress trying to dance like Miss Patty showed you. You were so bad at it!" Lorelai said.

"Thanks mom!"

"And, it's so hard to believe that at exactly this time many moons ago I was lying in exactly this same position" her mother started her tale again.

"Oh, boy. Here we go..." this was tradition, every year Lorelai would come in at exactly the same time and tell Rory the story of her birth.

"...only I had a huge fat stomach and big fat ankles and I was swearing like a sailor..."

"On leave..." Rory threw in.

"On leave! Right! And, there I was..."

"...in labor..."

"...and, while some have called it, the most meaningful experience of your life, to me it was something more akin to doing the splits on a crate of dynamite."

"I wonder if the Waltons ever did this." Rory wondered aloud.

"And, I was screaming and swearing, and being surrounded as I was by a hundred prominent doctors, I just assumed there was an actual use for the cup of ice chips they gave me."

"There wasn't."

"No, But throwing them at the nurses sure was fun." Rory knew the story like the back of her hand. Every year she would act like she hated the story but in reality she loved it. She loved how her mother was able to make something so natural sound so interesting and funny. Yes, she loved every bit of her life. Well, maybe not the party her grandparents were throwing her tonight...