I don't own anything. I hope you enjoy this slightly longer chapter. Happy reading!
"Rory please it's 5 am go back to bed," pleads Mia.
"It need my shoes, the new ones, have you seen them?" says Rory, searching frantically through the closet.
"Yes you left them by the door on Saturday so they'd definitely be ready and then you repositioned them three times to make sure you couldn't miss them." says Mia.
"Right, thanks." says Rory, dashing out and returning with her shoes.
"Rory, relax, everything's ready." says Mia, gently. "Mom even bought that new, fluffy alarm clock."
"You're right, it's gonna be fine."
"Good girl. Now just sit and read a book or something." says Mia crawling back into bed.
Two hours later.
"Mom! Get up it's 7.10!" Yells Rory.
"No it's not, go away." Lorelai moans.
"Mom, please get up you're supposed to drop me at breakfast club like now." says Mia
"What time is it?" says Lorelai
"7.10!" Yell both girls.
Lorelai runs downstairs to the kitchen.
"Ok Mia you'll have to come with us to Chilton first and then I'll drop you at school otherwise we'll never make it and..."
"What on earth are you wearing?" says Mia
"There's no way you're going outside looking like that." says Rory.
"Well then I guess you're walking to Hartford." says Lorelai.
"Fine. I'm sorry. Come on Mia, get in the car." says Rory.
"I can't believe I'm here." says Mia "How did I get dragged into this?" She asks, staring up at the prestigious school they've just pulled up to.
"It does look scarier than last time," admits Lorelai.
"Is it weird to be scared of a building?" says Mia. "Asking for a friend,"
"Come on, we're already late. Let's go." says Rory.
"Can I come in?" Mia asks "Everybody's staring at the jeep funny"
"Whatever just hurry up," says Rory.
"I feel like I'm about to be beheaded." says Mia, as they enter the large stone building complete with fountains and gargoyles.
After finding their way to the principles office with the help of an attractive Chilton dad who Lorelai tried to set up a date with, Rory starts to get nervous.
"It'll be fine, kid," says Lorelai, squeezing her hand.
When they walk into the principles office, Emily is waiting for them.
"Mom! What are you doing here?" asks Lorelai.
"Wishing Rory luck." says Emily, kissing Rory's cheek. She looks at Mia. "What are you doing here?"
"Trying to forget about the hundreds of gargoyle eyes watching me." says Mia.
"We were running late this morning, Mom, so I had to bring her with me." says Lorelai. "Look, Mia, wait outside with your grandma, will you?"
"Wait what?" says Mia.
Mia and Emily stand outside.
"Oh Mia, darling, I'm sorry your Mommy drags you around everywhere. Would you like a lift to school in grandma's fancy car?"
"I'm fine, thanks grandma. Stars Hollow's out of your way."
"Oh, your geography's good!" says Emily, delighted. "You're gonna be a smart girl like your sister!"
"Maybe!" says Mia, through gritted teeth. She hates being treated like a little kid, probably because her Mom always treated her like a grown up.
Lorelai walks out and sighs. Emily's smile disappears. "I can't believe you showed up in that!" she says. "Honestly, Lorelai,"
"Well believe me, Mom, it wasn't planned," says Lorelai. "Come on Mia, we're leaving,"
She takes Mia's hand and leads her away.
"God bless you," says Mia, hugging her mom tight.
"Hey Harrison, I'm so so sorry I wasn't there for breakfast club this morning. There was a crazy emergency involving my mom in short shorts and gargoyles," Mia says, sitting down heavily in her seat.
"Enough said." says Harrison, with a smirk.
"What's that smile for?" Mia asks.
"Well, I just signed you up for the school talent show!"
"What!?" says Mia
"They had a sign up sheet this morning and I figured you'd do it."
"Harrison! What am I supposed to do?"
"I don't know I figured you'd sing or play something. I thought you'd be happy about this. You get sing on a stage. That's what you want, right?"
"Oh Harrison," she moans.
"I don't why you're mad at me. I thought this would make you happy. This is a good opportunity, isn't it?"
"I guess." says Mia, with a sigh. "I'm still not happy with you, though." she says, punching him playfully in the arm.
"I'm sure I'll cope." says Harrison, with a smile. "You're not exactly threatening,"
"Well beware, Harrison. My greatest weapons are my words."
"You freak me out, sometimes, Mia Gilmore." he says, chuckling.
Later that day, Mia and Harrison watch Clara sit at a table alone.
"She looks so lonely." says Mia.
"Do you want to invite her to sit with us?" asks Harrison.
"Can I? You won't feel outnumbered or anything?" says Mia. Harrison is her best friend and she wants to respect him.
"I'll be fine, Mia, come on. We'll go to her."
They walk over.
"Hey Clara, I'm Mia and this is Harrison. It's nice to have you in school."
Clara smiles shyly at her. "Hey, I'm Clara."
"Could you date a Chilton dad, though?" says Sookie when Lorelai tells her about the guy she met at Chilton.
"Well I can if he's hot." says Lorelai.
"No I mean would it affect Rory?" asks Sookie.
"Oh man I hadn't thought about that. It could make school hard for her. I can't date him, can I?"
"Sorry sweetie," says Sookie.
"No it's ok, Rory comes first."
After school, Mia sits in Luke's, waiting. Luke brings her a glass of water.
"I'm concerned about your hydration," he says.
"Thanks Luke,"
"Thank goodness one of them will still drink something caffeine-free," Luke mumbles as he walks away.
"Rory, hey!" Mia calls to her sister. "How was school?"
"Classes were good, Paris was not,"
"Who's Paris?" Mia asks.
"Oh just this girl who's decided she hates me," says Rory.
"Sorry Rory, it's her loss," says Mia.
"She doesn't see it that way," sighs Rory.
"Hey I know what will cheer you up," says Mia, "Pie!"
"Well pie would be great but neither of us has any money."
"Follow my lead," Mia whispers to her and walks over to Luke. "Luke," she whines.
"What do you want?" says Luke, gruffly. "And you better not say coffee."
"No Luke it's just that Rory had a really bad day at school..." says Mia, blinking her blue eyes at Luke. Rory wobbles her bottom lip. "She could really use some pie because this girl at school hates her,"
"Fine, one piece of pie,"
"But Luke we're too young to work full time and we don't have any money," says Mia, her eyes filling with very realistic tears.
Luke sighs. "Fine, take it,"
"Thanks Luke!" says Rory, happily. "Hey where's Mom?" she asks.
"She had to meet a stove guy at the inn," replies Mia.
"Oh Sookie burnt another one?" asks Rory
"Yeah."
Lorelai walks into the diner and sits down at their table. "Hey kids," she says
"Hey Mom you want some free pie?"
"You got free pie? You have learnt my ways."
"You must be so proud of what you passed on to the next generation." says Rory.
"Oh I am. Why did you need free pie, anyway? Was school that bad?"
"No it was fine, really. I'm just tired and I need more time to adjust." Rory says.
"Sure that's completely normal." says Lorelai, comforting her.
"I'll be fine. Mia how was your day?"
"Harrison signed me up for the talent show."
"He did? Oh kiddo that's great!" says Lorelai, smiling.
"No it's not, it's sneaky is what it is. I have no idea what to do. I've never sung in front of a crowd before."
"Maybe you could dance instead?" suggests Rory.
"Oh no. No no no."
"Why not?" asks Rory
"Because I don't actually like dancing. The only reason I do it is because if I quit, Patty would turn against me and then we'd have to leave town,"
"Who said anything about we?" says Lorelai, with a smile. "If you get run out of town then you're on your own, kid."
"Whatever you do, Mia, I'm sure you'll be great." says Rory. "What will you sing?"
"I don't know. I don't want to talk about this anymore." says Mia. Then she smiles. "Hey Rory, how's the guy?"
"There over 3 billion guys in the world, Mia. You have to be more specific."
"You know, your guy."
"Dean?" she says, looking nervously at Lorelai. "He's not my guy."
"Rory, sweetie, it's fine I'm not mad about that anymore. It was only when I thought you were gonna quit Chilton for him that I was mad." says Lorelai "Come on, tell me. Who's the guy? What's his name?"
"His name's Dean Forrester,"
"Forrester? I know his sister," says Mia.
"You do? Oh great. Could you tell her to tell him that..."
"Uh uh. No way. That breaks the code." says Mia, stopping her.
"What code?" asks Rory.
"The code that says you can't use your sister to get to guys." Mia explains.
"Fine. It doesn't matter. Nothing's going to happen now anyway because I go to Chilton."
"So?" says Lorelai
"So I spend my whole life at school. I won't have time for him."
"Rory, you know there's this thing called the weekend. It's kinda beautiful actually." says Lorelai.
"Ok but none of that matters because I don't even know if he likes me." she says.
"Then find out." says Mia
"It's not that easy..." Rory says
"Why not?" says Lorelai. "Just talk to him more. He'll let you know if he likes you. Guys are good at that part."
"I guess I could ask Lane where he works and talk to him there..." Rory says, uncertainly.
"Hey good idea. You would regret it forever if you didn't even try." says Lorelai.
Mia is sitting in the living room on Monday evening, flipping through CDs in an agitated manner. She looks at one, decides against it, chucks it on the couch and then repeats the process.
"Hey!" says Lorelai "What are you doing chucking my Bowie on the couch?" She picks up the David Bowie CD and dusts it off.
"I'm trying to find a song," says Mia, looking depressed.
"Aw kiddo, don't be sad. This is gonna be great, I know it."
"No you don't," says Mia.
"Hey, what age did you stop believing in my 'special Mommy powers'"
"Mom.."
"Hey, Mia, you'll never know if you don't try and then you'll spend your life regretting it."
"Not my whole life, I'm sure," she says.
"Please Mia. I know you can do this. Do it for me."
Mia looks at her mother. She wants more than anything to make her happy and proud. "Fine." she says "But you have to help me pick a song."
"Oh yay fun!" says Lorelai. "Hey I have an idea. Let's just stick on a mixed tape and whichever song comes on first you have to sing. No arguments"
"Ok play the song," says Mia, impatiently.
"You have to promise to sing it,"
"I promise," says Mia.
"Do I need to make you take a pact?" asks Lorelai.
"Mom..."
"Okay fine," Lorelai says, pressing play on the CD player. Bette Midler's, The Wind Beneath My Wings, plays out from the speakers.
"I swear I did not set that up," says Lorelai.
"It's fine," says Mia. "Now I've found a song,"
Rory wanders aimlessly around Doose's Market, pretending to shop for food. When she sees Dean she quickly picks up the closest thing to her. Corn starch.
"Hey, how's it going?" says Dean.
Rory melts and the rest of their conversation flys by. Dean takes her over to the drinks aisle. He takes two sodas and hides them behind his back.
Mia drops into the market to buy gum on her way to get ready for the talent show. She's so nervous and yet she also can't contain her excitement. Mia spots Rory by the drinks aisle. She goes to call her then sees her with Dean. Mia watches with interest.
Dean leans over and kisses Rory. Rory kisses him back then pulls back, shocked.
"Thank you," she says, before bolting out of Doose's to Lane's, still holding the corn starch. Mia watches her go, stunned. Quickly, she pays for the gum and the corn starch, which, to her knowledge, Rory had stolen and heads straight home, still in a daze.
When she gets home, Lorelai is on the phone. Mia waits, patiently for her to finish but the conversation does not appear to be wrapping up. Mia heads into the bedroom to think. 'I should probably wait until Rory tells her' she thinks. Then she hears Rory open the door. Mia runs out of the bedroom, to see Lorelai finishing up her conversation.
"Hey girls," she says, after hanging up. "How's it going?"
Mia looks at Rory, expectantly. Rory goes to speak, then her face drops. "It's fine, Mom."
"And school was?"
"Good, good, all good. I gotta lot of work to do, though so I'm gonna go do that."
"Ok kiddo," says Lorelai. "That was weird. So vague," she says to Mia. "What's with the face?"
"I can't believe she didn't tell you!" says Mia.
"Tell me what?" asks Lorelai, confused.
"Rory got kissed!" Mia blurts out.
"She got what?!" says Lorelai, her heart dropping.
"Rory got kissed by a guy who, I assume, is Dean in the market."
"When?" asks Lorelai.
"Just now. Wow I really thought she'd tell you,"
"But she didn't. She didn't tell me." says Lorelai.
"I'm sorry, Mom,"
"I guess he did like her, then. And he let her know it. I gotta go talk to her about it. She's probably really confused,"
"Maybe that's not a good idea, Mom. You should probably let her tell you, first."
"Okay fine but if she hasn't told me by tomorrow night, I'm talking to her."
"That seems fair." says Mia.
Lorelai glances at the clock. Hey, isn't your talent show supposed to be on?"
"Oh no! I forgot with all the stuff about Rory. What's the time?"
"7.30,"
"It's about to end," says Mia sitting down.
"Oh hon, I'm so sorry. Come on, let's go anyway. Maybe we can find out who won," says Lorelai, rubbing her back and kissing her head.
"Ok," she says. "Come on Rory let's go." she yells to her sister
When the Gilmore Girls arrive at the school, it's empty. Except for Harrison.
"Oh Harrison, you waited!" she says, throwing her arms around his neck.
"Well I figured you'd show up eventually."
"I really wish I had done it, now," she says.
"Seriously? After all the backchat you gave me about signing up," says Harrison, smugly.
"Yeah, well, I didn't want to have any regrets." she says, looking at Lorelai.
"And you're not going to," says Lorelai. "Go on, get up there and sing now."
"But there's three people here."
"And?" says Rory. "We're the three that matter."
"But the mic's off and I have no music,"
"Come on, Mia. You don't need a mic and I'm sure you can manage without music," says Harrison, pushing her up the stairs, onto the stage.
"Fine okay, I'm doing it, I'm doing it!" she says, pushing Harrison off her and standing centre stage.
Lorelai looks at her youngest daughter, thinking how small she looks on that big stage.
Mia takes a deep breath and sings. "It must've been cold there in my shadow..."
Harrison watches Mia sing and feels incredibly proud of his friend. His best friend. They've been best friends since they were four. He wonders if Clara will change that.
Rory watches her little sister and feels a wave of guilt. 'I should've told her' she thinks. She tries to reassure herself by thinking 'She wouldn't understand and Mom would freak out. It's best they don't know.' Even with that consolation, Rory still feels guilty.
Lorelai watches Mia sing with tears in her eyes. She's so proud of Mia that it makes her emotional. She'd be proud whether Mia was singing in front of three people or three thousand people. 'I've still got one,' she thinks 'One who tells me everything'
When Mia finishes she smiles and sits down on the stage. Her tiny audience of three applauds her. "Well it's a yes from me," says Rory.
"Yeah I'd give you ten out of ten," says Harrison.
"Aw kid that was beautiful," says Lorelai. "It's a shame no one else got to see that,"
"Well, maybe they will one day, just not today. And I kinda preferred this. It's more personal."
"Well at least you don't have any regrets, do you?" asks Lorelai.
"Nope. No regrets!" says Mia, with a smile. "Just regret the fact that I'm not in the eating chocolate but that's the same as always!"
"Good," says Lorelai. "Regrets suck,"
"Right. Time for coffee who's with me!" says Rory.
"I'll race you to Luke's," says Mia, taking off followed by Harrison.
"Oh, come on. Not fair! You know I despise exercise with every fibre of my being,"
"Man I can't run!" moans Rory. "I'm not as young as I once was."
"Come on. We'll walk." says Lorelai, linking her arm through Rory's. "So, how's things?"
"Good," says Rory. "Mia was great, wasn't she?"
"Yeah," says Lorelai, looking at Rory, concerned. "She was real great."
Thanks for reading! This chapter has slightly more storytelling so let me know if you prefer more storytelling or more dialogue. As always, feedback is welcome, even if you just want to make a request or ask me a question about the story which I can answer in the next chapter. The next chapter will go up on Sunday at 2(U.K. time). Thanks again!