Friends Forever

Lorelai's twelve and Luke's thirteen

July 1980


"But I don't want to go to Chilton, Mom!" Lorelai cried out through clenched teeth as she jumped off the couch in the living room.

"Well, that's too bad, Lorelai. You are going that's final. I don't care what kind of excuses you have made up, but you are going to Chilton!" Emily told her sternly as she followed Lorelai's suit and stood up from her chair, shoulders squared and lips pursed tightly.

"But why can't I just go to Stars Hollow Middle School?" she pleaded desperately, her frustration from her mothers short answers evident. "Luke goes, Liz will be going when she's old enough, why won't you just let me go to a public school for once? Stop caring about what the society thinks and care about what I think. I want to go to Stars Hollow, all my friends are there."

"You have friends here." Emily dismissed, sighing tiredly at Lorelai's over-dramatic words.

"Like who? All of my friends are in Stars Hollow, not that you would know." she said, mumbling the last part to herself as she crossed her arms defensively over her chest, bracing herself for the next reason.

Emily rolled her eyes, knowing and hating how Lorelai liked to stretch the truth a little too often. "What about Christopher? You two seem to be such close friends,"

"I hate Chris! I've never liked Chris. Chris doesn't like me that much either- remember when he pushed me off a swing when I was six? And then he and Digger pushed me in the lake last summer and-"

"That was so long ago, Lorelai, he probably didn't mean anything of it, you both were so young."

"He doesn't even know how to say my name, mom." Lorelai reminded her flatly.

"I think it's cute how he gave you a nickname." Emily said with a small smile.

"I just want to go to school with Luke, please mom." she begged, pouting slightly though she knew it never worked with Emily.

"You need to learn how to make new friends, Lorelai. You and Luke have been friends long enough, you need to take some time apart and learn that you don't need each other for everything." Emily told her, dismissing Lorelai pleads.

"You and Amy did everything together for years, longer than before I was even born." Lorelai countered. "Now I don't want to make new friends, all I need is Luke and I'm fine, no one else gets me the way he does. Luke is my best friend mom, don't you get that I need him, I don't even know what to do without him."

"That is exactly why we're enrolling you into Chilton. You and Luke need to lead separate lives and stop clinging to each other because one day, one of you won't be there and you won't know what to do with yourself." Emily explained loudly, hurt and loss evident in her tone as she desperately hoped Lorelai would understand.

Dismissing her sadness, Lorelai racked her mind for another point to be made in her defense. "But- but I have fun in Stars Hollow." she said strongly, though knowing the words themselves were as weak as her chances to have herself enrolled into a public school.

"Schooling is not meant to be fun. You go to school to be educated, not pal around with other classmates."

With narrowed eyes, she glared back at her mother. When Emily showed no signs of giving up, Lorelai uncrossed her arms, throwing them to her side angrily. "I'm not going to Chilton and you can't make me!" she screamed, stomping her foot for emphasis.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore! You are going to Chilton no matter what, even if I have to drag you there myself." Emily said, sounding rather threatening as she did her best to stay calm.

Lorelai took a second to stare angrily at her mother before rushing up the stairs, shouting the words "I hate you for doing this to me!" behind herself irritably without taking another glance at her stunned mothers face.


"Hey Lizzy, is Luke there?" Lorelai asked into her furry pink phone, trying to swallow the lump in her throat.

"Yeah, Lorelai, hold on. Are you okay?" she wondered, sounding concerned.

Lorelai sighed and plopped herself down on her bed, staring aimlessly at the glow-in-the-dark stars her and Luke had placed on her ceiling one day that summer. "I'm fine; can you just put Luke on the phone, please? It's important."

"What is it?" she asked with an intrigued smile.

Lorelai sighed an impatient sigh, rolling her eyes in obvious annoyance. "Not now, Liz, I want to talk with Luke."

"Fine, hold on." she said, clearly upset as she then proceeded to scream Luke's name loudly until he picked up, "Here he is, bye Lorelai."

"Bye Liz," she said, trying to stifle a laugh as she heard Luke grumble on the other side of the line.

"Hello?" he grunted into the phone.

"I hate my mom." she said rather bluntly to him, fingering the frills on the pillowcase under her head.

"You don't hate her," Luke sighed, taking the phone and bringing it up into his room.

"Yes, I do." she corrected, nodding her head knowingly even though Luke couldn't see.

"Why do you hate her today? Is cable out? Nothing on that interesting on the Spanish channel?" he inquired dully, sitting himself down on the chair next to his desk.

Lorelai's eyes narrowed at Luke's mocking but she chose to ignore it. "She's making me go to Chilton Prep." she cried out dramatically into the phone.

"Well, that sounds like fun," he said sarcastically, not even bothering to stifle the laugh forming in the back of his throat. "Don't they have to wear plaid?"

"Great," she sighed mockingly. "Now I get to match your bed sheets,"

On the other side of Lorelai's locked bedroom door, she heard someone knocking. "Lorelai, I'm leaving," Emily called out, obviously waiting behind it for Lorelai's acknowledgment.

"Whatever," Lorelai mumbled making sure she was just loud enough for her mother to hear.

"What was that?" Luke wondered.

"Emily's going to her bridge club meeting." he told him, feigning joy.

He rolled his eyes as if he should now this. "Of course,"

"I don't want to go to Chilton," she whined, pouting through the phone as she kicked her feet childishly.

"Well there's no other choice barring home school with Emily," he reminded her, chuckling quietly at the thought of Lorelai being taught by Emily.

"Now that sounds like fun," she remarked dryly.

"Why don't you just stop being your stubborn self and tell your mom you're okay with going to Chilton."

"Because I'm not stubborn and I'm not okay with going to Chilton."

"Well what other choice is there?"

Lorelai sighed, frowning. "I don't know but what I do know is that I am not going to school with the Chilton freaks." she said firmly.

"Well maybe you and Chris Hayden could team up for some science project and become best friends," he joked, trying to sound reassuring.

"Well it matters; I only befriend the kids with the plaid bed sheets," she kidded lightly.

"So I just got lucky when my dad decided to take a special trip to the linens store in Hartford that day three years ago,"

She smiled. "Now if only I had your luck,"

"So what's the real reason you don't want to go to Chilton?" he inquired, throwing his feet up on the desk and tilting his chair back slightly. Knowing Lorelai, this was bound to be a long conversation.

"How much time do you have because I am sure this will take awhile." she said.

"I've got some time before I have to make dinner,"

"Okay well first is that I have no friends here," she began dejectedly.

"You've got to have at least one friend." he said, trying to do his best and stifle a laugh at her patheticness.

"Not one." she emphasized. "And another reason is that I hate private schools, I've been going to one my entire life so far; give me a chance to have a new experience in life."

He sighed, "They can't be that bad."

"Oh, I'm sorry you're right. The uniforms, no friends, strict teachers that'll give you detention just because you drop your pencil during a lecture, and rich snobs that make life even more difficult isn't that bad," she told him mockingly.

"Well it could be worse," he said optimistically.

"How?" she deadpanned.

He paused briefly, "I don't know, you didn't give me enough time to think up another reason,"

Lorelai sat up suddenly, smiling as an idea entered her head. "Maybe you should go to Chilton so I wouldn't have to be alone!" she suggested happily.

He sighed, "Lorelai, you know I can't do that, even if I wanted to I couldn't," he reminded her desolately.

"And why not?" she asked, clueless as to Luke's slight protest.

He bit his lip, slightly frustrated with Lorelai's ability to be so dense at some times. Shaking his head, he said, "You know we don't have the money for that, we barely have enough money to keep the three of us fed and the electricity on."

"But maybe my mom and dad could pay for it," she suggested desperately.

"You really think my dad would let your parents pay for my schooling?" he asked skeptically.

She smiled hopefully. "If you told him how important it was to me, yes."

"Lorelai, it wouldn't work, okay? Just give it up."

"I will not give up." She gasped mockingly. "Wonder Woman never gives up,"

"Yes well wonder woman also wears tights and a cape and has a golden lasso. You haven't been Wonder Woman in years," he told her flatly.

She frowned. "Well if my mother hadn't thrown it away the day after Halloween I would still be her."

"Have you ever noticed whenever you're mad you always let the conversation leave its fault on Emily?"

"It does not!" Lorelai protested indignantly.

"So, any plans on getting out of Chilton?" he asked, not-so-subtly switching the subject.

"No," she pouted, the sadness rearing its way back into her tone.

"You do realize that there's nothing you can do about it, right?" he asked, chuckling at her whimpers in protest and disapproval.

"I just don't understand why I can't go to public school. You don't get suspended in public school for not getting dressed for gym."

"Because she's Emily. Nothing she says makes any sense unless you're wearing pearls or a tie." he reminded her knowingly.

"Do you think she'd notice if I ran away to live with you?" Lorelai asked hopefully.

"She might not but the cook's might notice that there's a lot more food left in the fridge." he said, smirking without missing a beat.

Lorelai frowned. "This is serious Luke," she scolded strictly. "Not a time for joking around and your sarcastic remarks."

"And I'm being serious when I tell you there's nothing you can do but live out the next six years at its fullest." he told her, trying to raise her spirits and lighten the conversation.

She whimpered dramatically. "Six whole years?" she asked, "God, I think I might kill myself by then."

Rolling his eyes, he tucked the phone under his chin and stood up. "Look, I have to go cook dinner, it's getting a little late. But if you have any more complaints, feel free to write them down and recite them to me at a later time," he suggested mockingly.

"We still on for the movies this Saturday?" she asked, ignoring his comment and trying to get all thoughts of Chilton Prep out of her mind.

"I'll be at your house around six." he confirmed.

She smiled. "Good, any idea's as to what to see?"

"Uh, no, not really, what about you?"

She shrugged. "No idea, we'll just see what's playing then?"

"Guess so. Oh, and I saw Sookie around town yesterday. She said that she's been trying to call you but you never answer."

"Thanks, I'll call her later. So I'll see you Saturday then, and tell your dad I said hi." she added with a smile.

"Okay, see ya' Saturday, bye."

"Bye," she said, hanging up the phone and throwing her head back against the massive pile of pillows in frustration.


I want to thank you all for the pleasant reviews last chapter. They made my day. And I'd like to thank my awesomely amazing beta Hannah. You rock! As you can see, this is a not-so-good filler chapter but I already have the next chapter finished. I'll post it Wednesday if we reach the 200 review-mark (only 13 reviews) but if not, I'll try to post it by Saturday.

Comments? Suggestions? Favorite Parts? Questions?

Reviews are to me as gossip is to Babbette and Miss Patty.