Rory's chemistry grade began to improve and by mid-terms, she was plenty confident in handling assignments on her own. The study sessions ended, much to Jess's chagrin. They had English class, lunch period, and briefly after school to chat still, but he kept thinking of things he wanted to do with her, things to share with her that weren't at school. He thought his growing crush on her would become too transparent if he bothered to ask. The constant embarrassment and blushing she caused in him felt so difficult to hide at times.
The spring semester was quickly coming to a close. With only two weeks left, major projects were keeping everyone occupied. Jess didn't mind most of the assignments, but the English one, for once, was sadly the one he wasn't enjoying. They were paired off in groups of five and each group was assigned a section of Romeo and Juliet to perform, preferably their own interpretation or adaptation of the scene. Rory's group, however, seemed to be going the more traditional route.
"I don't know why Paris won't let us try at least something a bit different," Rory sighed with frustration. She chewed on her sandwich across the table from Jess, giving him the rundown of her group's project. "She thinks Elizabethan is the only way it should be interpreted. At least your group is doing something interesting."
He rolled his eyes as he looked away from his book. A pen was poised in one hand, the other holding the book open from the bottom. He was adding a few more notes in this one before lending it off to Rory. He gave a scoff at the mention of the project he wasn't thrilled about. "Shakespeare's dull anyway," he commented as he scribbled another quick thought down. "Doesn't matter what you do to try to improve it. Still sucks."
Rory gave him a baffled look. "How much of him have you actually read?"
"Enough to know he's dull."
As he expected, that didn't satisfy her. "What about -"
They were interrupted as Paris appeared in a whirlwind beside Jess, slamming her palms down to brace herself. Her small frame knocked into him briefly as her position stabilized. Edging away to regain his space, he shot her an irritated glare that she clearly missed. Her brown eyes were focused instead on Rory.
Paris's presence wasn't new. Her and Rory somewhat got along now, after a semester of on-and-off bonding. They had a lot of classes and after school activities in common, so often Paris would appear while Jess and Rory were having lunch or talking before English class. She didn't interrupt all the time, but sometimes it was right in the middle of an interesting conversation and Jess refused to hide his annoyance on those occasions. Paris was usually a very on-edge and demanding person, but something felt even more off today.
She seemed to finally quell her rage long enough to speak. "Tristan got expelled."
The Prince was gone? That didn't seem right. The DuGrey's were old money and were well known. What could Tristan have possibly done to get in so much trouble not even money could get him out of it? Jess was curious enough to want to ask, but didn't dare to. When Paris was focusing in like this, it was better not to interrupt.
Rory frowned. "What about our project? The performance is this Friday night."
"He was our Romeo," Paris yelled at no one in particular, slamming fists down. Her mouth twisted into it's usual glower. "The only boy in our group and he gets his pretty little ass kicked out! Totally unreliable." Her scowl was unmistakable as she stared off in deliberation. "They couldn't wait one more week to ship him off to military school? This is jeopardizing my chances at Harvard and if I don't get in, you damn well better believe I will come after him! Now I'm going to have to spend the rest of lunch trying to figure out how we're going to save our grade."
An idea seemed to strike her out of nowhere. Her hair bounced and sprang to life as she swung her full attention to Jess. She gave a large, menacing smile. He stared back at her, growing uncomfortable. Paris didn't usually smile. And she sure enough never smiled at him.
"You." She jabbed a finger at his chest. He swatted it away and she brought it up again, jabbing him again. He shifted back from her, losing his patience. Her eyes were steady. "We're going to get you in our group."
He scowled. "Why? I like mine just fine."
"That's because you only have to say one line," Rory said with a laugh. She was finishing her lunch quietly for the most part, enjoying watching Jess being tortured. Her eyes were playful while watching the development before her.
"Exactly. It's the role I was born to play," he agreed. He wouldn't mind being in a group with Rory, but he knew Paris was directing their group and he was not interested in her snapping at him if he didn't capture Romeo's spirit well enough, costing her a good grade. He knew Paris enough by now to know anything he delivered wouldn't be enough.
Paris kept on, jabbing him once more. "Your group has mostly boys. We don't have any boys."
He rolled his eyes. "This sounds like the set up to a math problem."
Paris was already gone. He stood up, searching to see where she ran off to so quickly, but she vanished into thin air. Feeling uneasy, he sat back down and shot Rory a concerned look. "What exactly do you think that was all about?"
He found out exactly what it was about the next day when Mr. Medina told Jess he was switching Jess into their group to make up for Tristan being gone. Luckily, Jess's group had one extra person anyway, but he strongly suspected Paris had worn Mr. Medina down until he caved. He had no proof, but the teacher's eyes seemed to be looking around uneasily a bit as he mentioned the change in plan before class.
It wasn't the worst chain of events to happen, but Jess felt a mix of emotions once their groups split off to rehearse and he discovered Rory was playing Juliet. On the one hand, the kiss scene Paris was insisting on was hopeful, but he had a strong feeling Rory's boyfriend would be in the audience and that made the only highlight of being in the group no longer worth it. I can picture his reaction to it now, Jess thought with a sigh. Even if it's a quick kiss he'll read something into it. Rory's his girlfriend after all. Her only identity.
"We're practicing after school," Paris ordered as class drew to a close. "No exceptions. I won't fail this assignment just because we got a new Romeo two days before the performance. The only problem is we can't use the gym or the stage to practice today so we need to figure out another place to go."
Rory chewed on her lip thoughtfully as she set down her play booklet. "There's a dance studio in my town. It's about thirty minutes from here, but it's always free after seven on weeknights."
"Perfect." Paris wasted no time agreeing to it. "Rory, right down your hillbilly dance studio address down for everyone, and Madeleine, Louise -" she glared at the two other girls in the group, "- don't spend all night putting on makeup getting us off schedule. I won't tolerate any tardiness especially if your excuse is wanting to look cute."
Madeleine groaned. "There's only going to be one boy there," she pointed out while continuing to file at her long nails. "And he'll be pretty tied up with Juliet."
"He was before becoming Romeo anyway," Louise said under her breath, twisting a strand of hair in boredom.
The girls had both shown interest in Jess when he first arrived at Chilton, but when he made it clear he didn't return the interest they were quick to scowl at him when possible. They didn't seem happy with the fact Rory ended up being the one person his attention was drawn to.
The bell rang and Rory and Jess gathered their things before walking out together, eager for a new atmosphere. Paris zipped past them in a hurry, the whiplash sending them teetering. "What is she on that gives her so much energy?" he mumbled, stabling himself.
Rory giggled, shifting the books in her grasp. "I won't question it.. I'll even gladly step aside and let her do whatever she wants on this project. Anything to make my summer with her easier."
"The Class Representatives thing? That's in Washington, right?" He had almost forgotten.
Student elections had been the week prior and Paris won the senior class presidency, with Rory as her vice president. There was a conference all the new electees had to attend to learn leadership and skills to help them in the coming year. The conference would take up most of the summer, keeping Rory busy enough that contact would be limited. Not like she'd be able to spend a lot of her summer with me regardless, he reminded himself. Plus, he was happy for her to get the opportunity. He just wanted to think of a way to still fit into her summer somehow.
"Yup. We leave almost right after school lets out and we'll be gone six weeks." Rory paused, slowly comprehending the reality of the situation. A mask of horror covered her normally delicate facade. "Six weeks of Paris." Her voice grew hollow as she clutched her books to her chest even tighter. "Six weeks in a room with Paris."
He chuckled. "I'm sure you'll be braiding each other's hair in no time."
She sighed, quickly looked over at him, her eyes intense. "I'm going to need a lot of books to keep me sane, so you better start getting a pile together for me. I'm talking more margin notes than you've written in your entire life."
"Oh really?" He made a show of looking offended. "Gonna demand more than one book just like that? I don't think I signed you up for a library card." When she gave him a tight mouthed, clearly 'over it' response, he lifted his hands in surrender and smirked. "Alright, I'll see what I have that will soothe you in your time of desperation."
She seemed pleased to hear that. They walked a bit more and he realized they would be going to their separate classes once they hit the next hallway. She would turn left and he would keep going straight. A thought came to him and he wanted to mention it before they parted.
He cleared his throat. "We could also… write letters if you want."
"Really?" Rory spun to her whole body toward him, stopping completely. Her steely blue eyes were big and shining. "That'd be really cool! I mean, who gets the chance to write letters anymore? We'll be temporary penpals!"
He nodded. "There's something more romantic about a letter anyway."
It was out before he meant it to be and he was quick to back pedal. His face felt hot as the words fought to make up for his brief transparency. "I mean, all the greats wrote letters and a lot of them were published," he went on, nervously running a hand through his hair. "It's just a more personal and stylistic way to communicate."
"Agreed," she said, seeming not to have caught his initial embarrassment. Checking the clock on the wall, she flashed a disappointed look at him. "Gotta get to the next class. Hey, if you want to you could just come hang out for a bit before we rehearse tonight. There's a diner we could eat and study at, oh and maybe I could take you to that bookstore I've told you about!"
It was the first time she had extended an invitation for him to visit her small, off-beat town that she was always mentioning to him. Trying to morph his instant wide smile back down to a grin, he asked, "Dean's not picking you up?"
"Nah, he was work after school. I was planning on taking the bus."
"Oh, I get it." Jess nodded a teasing smile forming slowly. "Lover boy can't chauffeur you today so you're getting me to."
She laughed and swatted at him. "Oh, shut up! Can't I just want to be around you a bit more?"
The hallway was nearly empty, the bell threatening to chime as they both watched each other with a bit of color on their faces. Rory started to open her mouth as if to correct what she had said, to make it sound less forward.
"You can," Jess said softly and quickly, before walking away so he could keep the moment as it was, without her saying anything to correct it.
After school, Jess swung them by his place first for a change of clothes before heading to her small hometown of Stars Hollow. When they got to her house she darted inside to change, and then she began giving him the grand walking tour.
It was a small town – the kind he wasn't too sure he would fit into. Everyone seemed to know each other and their business. They were stopped several times just so people could ask Rory how school was, and not in the 'small talk' kind of way. Jess took in the genuine love and concern these people had for her. He understood why when Rory explained the entire town played a hand in raising her when her mother had arrived as a runaway teen with an infant in her arms.
The amount of pressure he usually felt in her aura made more sense. With this many people watching over her, the idea of failure had to seem more daunting. He was personally used to no more than one person at a time having concern for him and what he did, so disappointing someone was somewhat foreign to him. He couldn't begin to fathom having a whole town concerned.
The bookstore boasted a fine collection of rarities and an owner equally knowledgeable in what he had. Jess found himself in a deep discussion with the owner, while Rory listened in with a delighted face. After awhile, her stomach was growling loud enough she had to drag him away. Rory was not one to skip a meal.
"I didn't know if you would like this kind of place," Rory confessed over dinner.
Jess pulled away from his burger for a moment. "The diner?"
They were sitting in a place called Luke's, sitting at the counter while chewing away at their food. It was one of the best burgers he had ever had and couldn't believe it was from some glossed-over town in the middle of nowhere.
She shook her head, loose auburn hair flying. "The whole town. I know it's kind of quirky and not like other places. But it's home for me."
"There's a lot of people who care about you here," he said.
"Yeah. It will be hard to leave them all for college," she sighed. She was dipping a fry in a mixture of salt and pepper before chewing on it a bit sadly.
He gave a shrug, shooting her a teasing smile. "Whelp, can't be a small town princess forever."
"I'm not a princess!" she grumbled, throwing a fry at him.
He raised up a brow in disbelief. "I believe I saw a 'Rory curtain' earlier?"
Jess was uncomfortable enough he now had more to do for this project than before. He did not need Rory's towering boyfriend looming around, sending death glares at him. He knows I've been with her all day, Jess realized. He's never been best buddies with me or anything, but he's never given me a look like that.
They had started running their scene – the death of the lovers – when Dean appeared in the doorway of the ballet studio. His face was moody as Rory stopped the scene and ran over to greet him with a kiss and confused smile, asking what he was doing there.
The rest of the group – Jess, Paris, Madeleine, and Louise – listened as Dean stated he wanted to watch them practice. When Rory frowned and mentioned he would be seeing it in a few days, that seemed to only upset him more.
"Don't you want me here?" he frowned. "I saw you showing Jess all over town while I was working. You spent all day with him, so why can't I be here to get you for some of the day too?"
Rory sighed, growing frustrated herself. "You know it's not about not wanting to see you. We're just really strapped for time. Jess had to transfer to our group last minute to replace Tristan and we really need to concentrate." Her brow was furrowed like it usually was when her and Dean were arguing. The usual soft and smooth face contorting with irritation.
Dean didn't seem to notice he was upsetting her. He pressed further. "So concentrate. I'm just standing here watching. Trying to support my girlfriend." He said the word as if he were reminding her what she was to him. As if it was her role in life. Madeleine and Louise watched with interest, seeming to find this side of the boyfriend extremely attractive.
"Ooh, angry boy-toy," Louise purred, fully inspecting the full height of Dean from where the rest of the group was standing at the back of the studio. "It's kind of sexy he's getting angry."
Jess rolled his eyes, looking up from the play booklet he was working to memorize lines from. He was perched at the edge of the stage, a bit secluded from the rest of them. "What's sexy about someone getting mad and trying to control you?" he muttered. "You're ultimate fantasy to be locked up in a dungeon or something?"
"If he's doing the locking," she grinned.
He rolled his eyes again, going back to the booklet. Eyes skittering above the pages, he watched Rory finally agree to let Dean stay if he promised to be silent. He agreed, they kissed again, and she retreated back to the group looking more worn out than when Paris had been scolding them before.
"Your lover's spat over so soon?" Paris glared, folding her arms across her chest. "Come on, people. No more interruptions! We've got two days and Holden Caulfield over here needs to impress the pants off of me."
"Not interested, Paris," Jess interjected, eyes back to his lines.
The small blonde grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to his starting position. "Shut up and act," she growled. She directed everyone else to their spots as well – a bit more gently – and then began the scene.
Jess didn't put in a profound amount of effort as he recited the lines. It was Shakespeare after all and he had no passion to attempt to make it interesting. But he started to grow uneasy as they neared his moment to kiss Rory. She was peacefully lying on the floor, eyes closed and fingers knit together across her stomach. The idea of the kiss was terrifying. He remembered how that first time he tilted up her chin how the memory raced in his head for days, driving him insane. I don't need any poison, he quipped, This kiss alone will be kill me. And now with tall, dark, and brooding over there watching, even if I don't die from touching Rory, he'll certainly make sure I do soon after.
"O true apothecary, thy drugs are quick," he read on, barely above a monotone, tossing the makeshift 'poison' bottle aside, "Thus with a kiss, I die." He was kneeling next to Rory, one hand softly brushing at her hair. His blood ran cold as he leaned close, starting to feel the shallow breaths she was making tickling his skin. Snapping his head up, he stared at Paris and deadpanned, "Then I kiss her, right?"
Paris's eyes were slits. "Yes! So why aren't you?"
Jess motioned over at Dean, as if it were obvious. "I'm sorry, do you want to be the one to kiss her while this guy is gnashing his teeth at you?"
"Hey, I was being perfectly quiet over here," Dean piped in with a scowl. He had surprisingly been silent, but his eyes were angry and his jaw constantly working into a deeper frown. He was starting to become good competition for Paris as far as scowling went.
Jess shrugged, remaining playful and aloof. "You're death glare is making it perfectly clear I'm done for if I kiss your number one gal."
Rory sighed, getting up. "Jess, stop," she warned, her eyes serious. "Dean knows this is for school and doesn't mean anything. Right, Dean?"
Dean gave an extremely unwilling 'yeah'.
She whipped her attention to Jess. "He knows it's for school. So just kiss me so we can get an A."
He had a comeback for her, but could see how tired she seemed over the situation. Wonder if their little argument earlier has been going on longer than just that, Jess wondered. Giving up, he turned to Paris. "Let's just save it for the actual play. It's not like you can mess up a kiss. And that way, Dean's happy, you're happy."
"I don't care what Dean wants," Paris interrupted. "It's not his grade at stake here!"
Madeleine was frowning at her script. "It doesn't even exactly say he kisses her in the play. I mean, I know he says 'thus with a kiss' but there's no stage direction until Juliet comes up. So we could just-"
"Hundreds of directors have made the choice to do a kiss there so we're doing it too!" Paris shouted, waving her script around. "Kisses get A's!"
Jess smirked. "Guess we know how Paris is getting into Harvard."
Paris shot him an even scarier look than Dean had been giving him. "Fine. Don't kiss her for practice. But if you don't do it on Friday, that lovesick puppy over there will be the least of your concerns."
As they all packed up everything later once practice was declared satisfactory by Paris, Jess stuck his hands in her pockets and walked over to Dean. He was starting to not like the guy too much, but Rory was always quick to defend him and Jess thought it was maybe best to keep the peace. Dean was keeping his eyes on Rory, who was deep in conversation with Paris. He didn't shift to show if he noticed Jess suddenly near him or not.
"Hey," Jess began, staring up at the boyfriend. He scratched at the back of his neck, not sure how to address the situation now that he was here. "Look, I was just messing around earlier. Trying to make light of an awkward situation."
"Stay away from her."
Jess narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me?"
"After this project," Dean continued, eyes darkening as he finally looked down at him, "I don't want you hanging out with her anymore. I work over at the grocery store. You think I didn't see you skipping around all over the town square with her today?"
"I don't recall any skipping-"
"There's something going on here," he went on angrily. His hands balled up into fists at his sides. The knuckles whitened. "You think I don't notice how much she mentions you or how you look at her in that way?"
"In what way?" Jess growled, ready to deny anything Dean brought up.
Dean took a step closer and towered over him with a bitter expression on his face. "Your study sessions are done, school's almost done, and you know who she'll spend the summer with after her trip? Me." The words were spat out as if they were toxic. "I make her happy, and I've been making her happy since before you came along."
Jess took note of the words Dean chose to emphasize. "Why can't other people make her happy too? Seems to me this whole town cares about that."
Dean glowered. "You're not part of this town. You don't get to care about it."
"Do you hear how damn possessive you sound?" Jess scoffed. "She's her own person."
"She's my girlfriend. So again – stay away from her." Dean walked over to Rory, grabbed her by the arm and started to lead her out of the studio. Jess watched until they were out of sight, his eyes dark with concern.
A/N: So, I've obviously adjusted some canon timeline events, but some things I wanted to keep in just at different times. And Dean getting stupid over the school assignment was such a big starting point for seeing how jealous and controlling he can be in the show, so I wanted to have it in this. Also, gives a reason to start sparking some serious Literati ;)
