Written In The Stars II
By Gilmoregirl1979 (the reigning Quote Queen)
Provider of Quality Fan Fiction
Rating: PG-13
Hi this is your friendly disclaimer: I REJECT ASP's REALITY AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN! Once again, I don't own (DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!!), No Harm No Sue.
R/R: yes please I love reviews; I wanna marry them (as previously stated, I have strange passions.)
Summary/ the Q: What if they did the show… MY WAY (Like Frank!)
Luvz: Miss you, because you are multifaceted abnormal
LOCALIZY: you are still the Queen of all that is awesome and GOOD…
BETA: Jenn, thank you for the read through!!
A/N:
Dialogue borrowed from: 1.04 - The Deer-Hunters written by Jed Seidel, directed by Alan Myerson
7777777777777777777777777
Chapter 10
Whose Dream Is This Anyway?
"Is it ready yet??" Lorelai pouted impatiently from the kitchen table.
"Yes, but I'm not serving until dad gets home."
"It will get cold!" Lorelai said dramatically.
"I'm keeping it warm," Rory assured.
"But I'm hungry!"
"You're always hungry."
"But I'm particularly hungry; I used up my stores of energy with your anal school supply shopping!"
"It wasn't anal."
"Three highlighters," Lorelai sited the example.
"I explained that! I loose one, one dries out, I have one left."
"Yet, you refuse to use the pretty purple pads I bought!"
"Say that three times fast."
"Pretty purple pads, pretty purple pads, pretty purple pads! Will you use them now?"
"I'll use them at home for shopping lists and things. That's festive."
Lorelai fidgeted at the table like a kid, "Can I have a taste now?"
"No."
"But what if it's poisoned? You are the future ruler of the free world, we need to protect you."
"It's not poisoned, I made it. Why would I poison myself?"
Lorelai groped for a funny reason, "Umm, because you can't handle the new school and want a painless end?"
Rory pounced defensively, "Who said I couldn't handle it?"
Lorelai was taken aback by Rory's snappy reaction, "What? I didn't say that…"
"Yes, you did," Rory returned evenly.
"It was just a joke… I mean, you're studying all the time, dad and I thought you had moved to Cambridge already."
"Well, if I don't study all the time, I'll never get to Cambridge," Rory was already feeling enough pressure from her teachers, her plaid clad peers, and even the Headmaster. Now her own mother was loosing faith in her smarts?
"Jeez, you're crabby," Lorelai observed; before mother and daughter could finish their conversation and mother could pry further, the man of the house walked in the front door, wearing his grey suit and a foul mood.
Upon seeing her husband's attire, Lorelai began to catcall at her husband's undone tie and at the few undone buttons of his shirt; "Ow, ow! You look hot!"
Luke started his venting to his dear family, "I'm going to need another suit if we have to keep this up."
Lorelai gasped, "Yey! A reason to shop!!"
"Don't go crazy now. I'm not going all GQ on you, I'm still the t-shirt and jeans man you married."
"But baby there's something women like about a sharp dressed man." Lorelai sat patiently, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What?" Luke asked, already perturbed.
"Oh, I don't know, it's just that we haven't seen each other in a couple of hours," Lorelai smiled and pointed to her mouth.
Luke dutifully leaned down and kissed his wife.
"Hmm, I love it when you're shaved."
"Don't change the subject and get used to it. I'm only going to be a sharp dressed man for these stupid Chilton things. Jeez, this school is so different from Stars Hollow, I mean before I could cross the street from the diner and I was there, jeans and flannel no problem, I'd say 'Hey Jim,' and he'd be like 'We just love your daughter here, she's such a good student,' and I'd be like 'Yeah, I know' then it would be over; but now there's a commute, and dressing up for the sake of appearances, and factoring in traffic time with all the wackadoos on the road from here to Hartford, not to mention they send home like a thousand pages of updates every week… do you know how many trees they probably need for all that paper."
"That's why the tuition is so expensive," Lorelai smiled at her husband's rant. "How did the vote go?"
"Well, I got a lot of perplexing looks when I was the tie breaker for the plaid scrunchies as acceptable head wear decision."
"It passed. Yay!" Lorelai cheered, "Oh, I'm so glad I saved that extra material from when I hemmed your skirts or do I need to buy the official Chilton Scrunchie from the catalog with like an embroidered logo."
"I think you can ask that very question next week when it's your turn to go," Luke stressed.
"Hey, I can't help it if you lost the coin toss," Lorelai shrugged.
"Behold the wonders of modern parenting," Rory said sarcastically from the range stirring the contents of a pot.
Lorelai was mock-defensive, "Hey, I felt very strongly about letting the girls of that repressive school, you being among them, have some freedom of fashion expression."
Luke took off the suit jacket and asked his wife, "Not strong enough to go and vote yourself for this stupid thing."
"It's called a motion, Luke; we got to brush up on your parliamentary procedure," Lorelai grinned, Dirty, she knew his procedures were just fine, "Besides, I had a schedule conflict, which just happened to get canceled at the last minute," Lorelai trailed off in a mumble.
"Liar!" Luke shook his head at his wife, she was avoiding doing anything unpleasant because she knew he'd do it for her; if it was a stopped up toilet or going to painful parent-teacher meetings, Luke would ease the burden on Lorelai.
Lorelai said sweetly, "Luckily, I had my handsome able-bodied husband to go in my stead, and pass the measure for our daughter's accessorizing rights!"
"Oh, yeah getting pestered by Hartford women is exactly how I wanted to spend my afternoon."
"Pestered?" Lorelai said with concern.
"Yeah, a bunch of women kept offering me coffee and doughnuts during the break in the meeting, and I would tell them what was in the doughnuts."
Rory glanced at her mother, she noted her mother's concern of Luke being ogled by Hartford ladies, "Now that you know there are doughnuts would you be willing to go now?"
Lorelai ignored Rory's comment to focus on Luke's retelling of the meeting, "…and still they would ask me if I wanted to go for coffee afterward and I had to explain over and over again, that I didn't drink coffee."
"Cool, Dad got hit on."
"You got… hit on?" Lorelai raised a brow.
"I did not get hit on," Luke dismissed.
"Dad, getting asked to go for a cup of coffee is code for 'do you want a cup of coffee'," his daughter emphasized with innuendo.
Lorelai agreed ardently, with a small knot in her stomach, "See, that is getting hit on."
"Jealous?" Luke replied.
"No," she said emphatically, but not believably.
Changing the subject, Luke turned to his daughter, "Hey kid, thanks for cooking tonight, I know you have a lot to do, but someone didn't tell me about the meeting in a timely manner," Luke looked sternly at his wife, then turned back to his daughter, "What's on the menu?"
"Spaghetti, I just kept it simple. I've got a lot of reading to catch up on still."
"Well, after the great scrunchie debate and road-ragers, it sounds great," Luke kissed Rory's head. "I'm going to change."
As Luke left the kitchen unbuttoning his dress shirt, Lorelai hollered, "Take it all off."
Rory admonished her mother, "He's never going to go to those meetings again if you give him such a hard time about it."
"He lost fair and square."
"…But you sent him unguarded into a sea of wanton women."
"Yeah, didn't bank on that," Lorelai considered seriously, her fingers tapping her chin, "Though why am I surprised, I have fantastic taste in men. Um, are you sure you're not misinterpreting their intentions? Maybe they own stock in coffee and wanted him to drink coffee so he to would get addicted and the demand would up and they'd make more money… somehow…"
Rory started humming the tune of "Sharp Dressed Man".
"Stop it."
"Dad would be better advertising for a coffee show; just being there would get women coming in the windows," Rory teased, "Maybe he's just trying to counterbalance all the flirting you've done."
" He doesn't flirt! And I don't flirt, I'm just…really friendly! I am never an instigator, I'm just minding my own business, drinking coffee, walking down the street and men just gravitate toward me!"
"Uh huh. And she's humble too," Rory said dryly.
"Beside Luke gets nervous around Patty, he wouldn't, you know… lead on a woman who was, you know, trying to get him. My God, do you think someone was trying to get him?"
"Could be," Rory shrugged, "I've seen it at the diner."
"What?"
"You know, tourists come in, who's this handsome man serving me coffee in this small town I've never been to before. I wonder if he's available, he works in a diner, we wouldn't have to go far for coffee."
"Don't they see his wedding ring?"
"Don't men see that huge rock you wheel around"
Lorelai scrutinized her daughter, "Oh, you're teasing me!" Lorelai didn't want to think about it anymore. So while Rory was draining the noodles, Lorelai asked, "So what's on the agenda tonight?"
" Reading, reading, and more reading, and if I'm really, really good, more reading."
"Honey, maybe you should slow down."
"Sorry they only have one speed at Chilton; Full throttle. I'm weeks behind already."
"Still, you should break now and then, decompress, take a breath."
"That's what the weekend is for."
"Yeah, which you spend reading," Lorelai countered.
"I'm in school; I'm supposed to read and study, retain information and learn things."
"Well, I just want us to keep our close family relationship is all? I can't even keep your assignments straight because you don't even have time to tell us about anything you're up to. What was that monster you were working on last week?"
"Mr. Medina's paper."
"He's the… history teacher??" Lorelai bit her lip in a guess.
"English Lit," Rory corrected.
"Drat, at this rate I'm going to have to start studying too. Can I cut up a year book to make flash cards so I can get names with faces?"
"No, you just have to go to your allotment of the parent teacher meetings and you'll learn."
Lorelai sighed, "Its hard being an involved parent."
Luke entered the kitchen again, "Alright, I'm me again, let's eat."
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Monday morning in class, Mr. Medina was handing back papers to his students, "While I thank you one and all for occupying my weekend, I'm very glad that the Chilton standard is being up held by most of you, Mr. DuGray," Mr. Medina looked pointedly at Tristan DuGray, then continued down through the stand of papers, "Decent effort by most, good effort by some, exceptional effort by only two. Let's see, Mr. Eastman, Miss Geller, Miss Da Costa, Miss Danes…"Mr. Medina handed Rory her paper and she eagerly looked at the letter grade fully expecting that she would be one of the exceptional. She was disheartened to find a huge red 'D' on her paper. In disbelief Rory quickly hid the paper from the people around her who took it upon themselves to make her miserable, still couldn't keep her name straight, and would no doubt use this as ammo.
Rory swallowed her disbelief as Mr. Medina addressed the class again, "Take these home. Learn from your mistakes. Look at the large red circles around various parts of your paper as friendly reminders that to err is human. And that here at Chilton we try to beat that humanity right out of you!"
Mr. Medina headed to the front of the classroom again, "Ok, next up. The test… the dreaded test; Shakespeare! The man we've been droning on about for the last three weeks, finally comes back to haunt us on Friday. This is a big one my friends, multiple choice with an essay section that will count for 20 of your grade for this semester. And don't be fooled by my kind face and charming personality. This test will be hard, and there will be no makeup's." The bell rang to signal the end of the period, "Refer to the study materials that I gave you at the beginning of the month and those extensive notes I know you've been taking."
Rory tried to hold her composure, as she gathered her things. How could she take her first real failure in academics as merely constructive criticism? She was in such a state of shock she couldn't even remember what her next class was, did she have another class? Paris and her harpies were lingering around, no doubt for Rory's benefit.
"Hard paper," Paris commented, looking directly at Rory.
"Killer," Louise agreed.
"How'd you do?"
"'A'"
"Me too," and Paris actually smiled.
"Madeline what'd you get?"
Madeline looked discouraged, "You know I got a 'B'"
"A 'B's not bad."
Louise also consoled, "Oh, not at all."
"Respectable even," Paris then changed her tone, "A 'D' however, that would be cause for concern."
"A cry for help," Louise egged on.
"A job application at McDonald's," Paris dug.
"Would you like fries with that?" Louise played along.
Rory tried not to react as she stacked her books; but how did Paris know she got a D? She thought she had hid the paper quickly enough. Almost in answer to Rory's internal insecurities Paris mused.
"Hey, you know, not everybody can be smart. As my mother always says, somebody has to answer the phones."
Poor Madeline appeared lost from the context, "Ok, I have no idea what you two are talking about."
"No, but Rory does."
Rory found her legs as the shock finally wore off and got up from her and went quickly in what she hoped was the direction of her locker since she needed to exchange some of her books. She just had to get away from the taunting twins.
Rory was heading down the hallway to her locker to head home and find solace in people who loved her. Suddenly there was an arm around her, and Tristan was trying to console her, "Hey Mary."
"And it just keeps getting better," Rory tried to shrug off the unwanted arm.
"Oh, you look sad," Tristan mock-pouted.
"I'm fine."
"Bad grade?"
Jeez, does everybody know? "I have to go." Rory came up to her locker, the infamous locker that broke Paris' model castle and started them in this pathetic rivalry. Rory quickly twisted her combination into the locker dial and began a frenzy exchange of books, backing her book bag to the seams.
Tristan suddenly appeared again, leaning against a locker on her left, he mused, "You know what Mary, I can't figure out why we're not friends. I think it's because I make you nervous."
"I think it's because you can't learn my name," Rory said pointedly.
"Cute picture, you into older men," Tristan insinuated.
Rory looked on the inside of her locker door, amongst her Stars Hollow photos, was the picture Tristan was referring to; it was a picture of her and her dad from a camping trip. Rory was behind Luke peeking over his shoulder with a wide smile, her arms wrapped around her father's neck while Luke had his eyes closed mid laugh from her jumping on his back. "That's my dad, you nimrod."
"So you don't have a boyfriend?" Tristan pried.
"None of your business."
"Is that a 'no'?"
"Is there no one else at this school you can bother?" Rory was still struggling to fit all her essential books for her homework into her bag.
"See, I think you like me, you just don't know how to say it."
"Oh brother."
"What are you doing Friday night?"
"I'm busy," Rory slammed the locker closed to protect the photo of her dad from having to hear Tristan's dribble.
7777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
When Rory arrived back in her home town, she went straight to Kim's Antiques, for comfort from her best friend, "Lane?!"
Her friend called back, "Rory?!"
Every time Rory entered the Kim's house/business it was like a living maze that was constantly shifting. Rory could see her friend or discern where Lane was located among the furniture. "Right or left?!"
"Left!"
Rory maneuvered through a tight squeeze of tables and chairs, and she came to a barricade of bureaus, "I thought you said left!"
"Sorry, my left, your right!"
Rory wandered through the wooden unstable structures, "Marco... "
"Polo!" Rory heard Lane's laugh echo through the wooden furniture.
After a few minutes, Rory found the kitchen and lane doing her homework, "Hey Marco."
"Hey Polo, where have you been I haven't seen you in like a week."
"Sorry, been swamped with homework, schoolwork, all work," Rory mirthlessly listed as she pulled out a thick binder to study with her friend.
"What's that?" Lane asked.
"My notes."
"For every class?"
"Just English Lit."
"Jeez."
"I don't think Shakespeare knew himself this well."
A woman appeared out of nowhere and began admiring the table they were seated at, "Ooh, I like, how much?"
Mrs. Kim also emerged, and leaned down to her daughter, "Move," then she began to negotiate while the girls gathered their books, "$500."
"You can do better than that."
Rory and Lane waded through the sea of furniture to find a vacant table, Rory sighed over her 'D' again, " I really miss Stars Hollow High."
Lane looked back to her friend, "You're kidding right?"
"No. Chilton's just… I don't know, hard."
"What do you care? You were always miss everything's-so-easy-at-school. This should be a snap for you. "
What an indictment, now Rory was not only letting down her family, but her best friend's expectations of her too. Thinking of her hidden 'D' in her binder again, "Apparently not easy enough," Rory sighed.
As soon as they start to put their books down on a table, Mrs. Kim came around another corner, "No, this is sold, Move."
Both girls sighed and moved again. Lane introduced a new subject once they were out of earshot of her mother, since teenage girls talking about teenage boys made Mrs. Kim nervous, "Um, so this guy asked about you today."
Just the thing to bring Rory out of her funk, "What guy?"
"Mr. Forester, the new kid…tall, perfect."
"He asked about me?" Rory's cheeks flushed, "What'd he want to know?"
"He wanted to know why you switched schools."
Rory anxiously asked, "Well, what'd you say?"
"Oh, I told him you were just too smart for us and that you had to go to the genius school."
"You didn't!"
"I think he really liked that. I guess he must be into brainy chicks."
Rory sulked again, thinking she should pin a Scarlet D to her chest, "Well, I'll keep my eyes open for one for him." Rory thought back over the past week, she had been so engaged in finding out what she could about Dean Forester she had admittedly been neglecting her reading; daydreaming about Dean since they ran into each other at the inn while she was working that wedding for her mom.
"Are you okay? You seem in a funk?"
Before Rory could answer Mrs. Kim interrupted again, "Not this one… sold."
"Momma?"
Mrs. Kim insisted, "Move."
"Well, where do you want us to go?" Lane asked unable to hide her exasperation.
"Library."
"I hate sales!!" Lane complained.
"It's okay; I have to get home for dinner."
"Rory, has your mother been drinking the tea?" Mrs. Kim dropping her bartering face and finally cracking a smile.
"Yes, every day," Rory lied, since she hadn't been keeping track of her mother's tea habit as much as her mother' coffee habit.
"Good. Will work. You will see."
"I'm sure we will, I've got to go, bye."
Rory was rushing to the square to head home, not paying attention to where she was going and ran smack dab into Dean Forester, comically sending the notes and papers she had in hand everywhere on the sidewalk. "Hey, where's the fire?" Dean asked.
Rory was already on the ground snatching her papers up again, "Don't say fire, this is the only copy of my notes."
"See that's the problem with loose leaf paper... it's loose."
"Enough with the jokes and help me if you're going to."
Dean was taken aback by how rude Rory was being, usually she seemed so sweet and nice, "Rory, is everything okay?" Dean asked as he knelt down to help her gather her papers.
"Yeah, yeah it's just I've got to study, and I..." Rory saw the paper with the giant blatant red "D" on it. She snatched it up to hide her dirty little secret from Dean, who liked brainy girls. Her head then snapped up as she looked at Dean suddenly realizing who she was with. She was with her crush, the crush who liked brainy girls, her crush who was under the misconception that she was a brainy girl. She stared into his eyes not knowing what to say. No baseball anecdotes, not whimsical stories about her genius school, she couldn't even remember the year Shakespeare was born.
"Is that everything?" he asked her, smiling how she suddenly slowed down to really look at him.
"I hope so, I'm not sure," she clung the "D" close to her to keep him from seeing it. Dean once called her focused, commended her unbelievable concentration, yet she couldn't keep her thoughts together when she was around him. Was thinking about him costing her her GPA? With a "D" in hand, apparently she wasn't as smart or as focused as she thought she was. "I've got to go," she took her binder and papers and had to get out of the range of Dean's effect on her, Dean began with 'D'. Like kryptonite to Superman, Rory had to be able to focus soley on the Bard for her test. For the next week, William was the only man in her life.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I have a lot of work for school to get to. I'll see you around," just not for the next week; she didn't mean to be so rude, but she had to prioritize this week.
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Lorelai was futilely fighting with the remote control, "Um, Rory one of your games is on…and I can't change the channel."
"That's on purpose; I'm taping it for Dad!"
"How many baseball games are there?"
"It's the Playoffs."
"Aw man, I hate that he taught you how to work the VCR and shut me out of the TV."
"You watch too much anyway!"
"You sound like your father! Stupid cave men running around with clubs."
"There called bats, you should know that!" Rory hollered trying to focus.
Lorelai turned off the TV, "Hey, let's get ice cream. I'm bored." When there was no response to the magic words, "ice cream", Lorelai went into the kitchen to find her daughter once again surrounded by books; "Oy, and tonight's late night movie, 'the thing that reads a lot'; Scary!!"
Rory looked up irritated, "Mom, I'm studying."
"But I'm bored and can't use the TV."
"I told you, you should have gotten one for your bedroom."
"Yeah and I told your dad that, but he went on and on about R.E.M. sleep patterns… and then I read an article at the Doctor's office about how if you have a TV in the bedroom, couples don't have as much sex because it's a distraction…"
"God! Mom!" Rory was trying to memorize various synopsises of the Bard's plays and her mother was only offering disturbing images instead.
"What? I was talking about ice cream then you distracted me. Can't you take a break?"
"I can't take a break right now."
"Ok, when?"
"Are you four?"
"No, I'm hungry!"
"Have some more pizza; dad isn't here. Enjoy it while you can."
"It's cold."
"Then heat it up."
"It's not the same."
Rory narrowed her eyes, "Lorelai, go to your room!"
"Wow, smart girls are mean."
The only way to get Lorelai out of her hair was to bargain, Rory offered, "If you let me study now, I'll play with you this weekend on your day off."
"Promise?"
"Yes, we can do anything you want."
"Will you go to the shoe sale with me?"
"Yes."
"Will you let me try on anything I want?"
"Yes."
"Will you help me push other people out of the way if they're going for my size?"
"I'll even run interference for you."
"Alright, you've got a deal."
"Good."
Lorelai suddenly realized, "So… I'm sorry…where did we land on the whole ice cream issue?"
Rory huffed, uncharacteristically grumpy, "Why don't you go to the diner and annoy dad, and you know what, I bet there's ice cream there you can get for free."
"Oh, good idea!" Lorelai went to get her coat and purse, but she was concerned why her daughter was suddenly so snappy.
Rory sighed in relief; savored peace and quiet for only a moment and went back to the books.
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Lorelai knew she was late; it was her turn for this stupid parent teacher meetings. Her husband was right; Chilton was very different from Stars Hollow High. In a way that was the point, but she could at least find her way around Stars Hollow High. She tried to imagine her daughter's first day, navigating a campus as big as a castle day to day, Rory was amazing. When Lorelai finally found the right classroom, she less than gracefully burst into the classroom, startling all the parents and the hosting teacher.
With dozens of eyes on her, she explained, "Um, hi. I'm so sorry. I had this terrible pothole incident. And… you so don't care. Uh, I'll just sit now."
The black haired hosting teacher approached her, "I don't think we've met."
"Oh, I'm Lorelai Danes, Rory's mom."
Max Medina should have known, given the striking resemblance of the blue eyes, "Glad you could join us," Max turned to the high-strung parents, "Rory is one of our new students."
A snotty mother was apathetic, taking in Lorelai's appearance, "How nice. Now the AP test…"
"Right well," Max Medina gestured for Lorelai to sit, "We are preparing them as best we can," Lorelai made a slight detour toward a table offering coffee and doughnuts.
"I've hired a tutor for Bethany," one mother touted.
"Always a valid option," Max nodded, but couldn't help but notice Lorelai discreetly getting coffee.
The moment the coffee past her lips Lorelai spit the small sip back into the cup, "Mmm, Jesus, Mary, Joseph and a camel," then she realized all eyes were on her again for her less than elegant display. Trying to explain Lorelai offered, "This is really bad coffee," seeing she wasn't making any headway at making new friends, she finally sat down, "So this AP test, what are we going to do about it, huh?" sitting in the wooden desk made Lorelai have a strange sense memory of being back in high school and her own private school experiences of plaid and restrictions.
Max Medina explained, "Well, the next test is scheduled for next month, um, the 25th, Saturday at 7:00 am."
"That's right after Thanksgiving," a father said aghast.
Lorelai raised her hand and Max called on her, "Yes?"
Lorelai knew she needed to participate and maybe make up a few points for the spitting out the coffee thing, "Uh, where is the test?"
"It will be given here."
"Here."
"Right."
"Great," she felt like a complete idiot. Rory was the one who had to shine here, not Lorelai, still it wouldn't hurt to let people know smarts ran in the family.
"Great, any other questions?"
Lorelai raised her hand again, "Yeah, um, can parents come?"
The snooty mom sound out again, "What?!"
"Yeah, it's a big exciting test. I just thought … I'm sorry is that stupid?"
Max had to smile, "No, it's not stupid."
"I just thought I'd like to see the excitement."
An annoyed dad, "It's a test."
"Yeah, I know," Lorelai nodded.
The dad challenged, "What's exciting about a test?"
"Do you play golf?"
"Yes, I do."
"You explain yours, I'll explain mine."
Max swallowed his chuckles and decided to intervene, "Ok, why don't we get back to the meeting?"
"I've never heard the name Danes before, have you seen her before?" one mom noted to another while Max took a question from the other side of the classroom.
"Must be a scholarship student," returned another harshly.
Lorelai head the comment and turned, "Um excuse me…" again Lorelai felt like she was in school again, with catty girls always talking behind your back.
Keeping an eye on Lorelai and the situation around her, Max decided, "You know, I think this would be a good time for a break. There's coffee in the back."
Lorelai already had her bad coffee and decided to avoid the snotty people, clearly a fish out of water. Lorelai imagined it was worse for antisocial Luke last week, Oh wait, he had all those new friends offering him doughnuts. She walked over to the black board to study some of the recent notes that had been made and yet to be erased. Suddenly, someone came up beside her.
"What were you going to do; hit her?" Max Medina wryly asked.
"No, I just… I had some good verbal comebacks ready," Lorelai thought about Luke again, wondering if he was serious about the women hitting on him, wondering if any of those women had asked her husband to coffee. He wasn't exactly a social butterfly; she wondered how their charming Stars Hollow selves were going to make friends amongst the parents of Hartford. She took another sip of the coffee, "Ugh, it… it just keeps getting worse." Lorelai noticed the self-conscious look on Mr. Medina's face, "You made the coffee didn't you," and Lorelai was mortified, hoping she didn't insult a man who held control of her daughter's GPA.
"Well, you know not drinking it is always an option."
Lorelai was thankful that this teacher wasn't offended and dropped the cup into the trash, "I'm trying to cut down anyway" smiling while thinking over her evolving diet for her baby efforts.
"I'm Max Medina," he offered her his hand.
"English lit, right?" she remembered from her conversation with Rory, "Nice to meet you; Lorelai Danes, but you already know that."
"I apologize for the behaviors of some of our guests tonight. It's a tense time for some people."
"The SAT season?"
"The waking hours," Max was pleased that she giggled.
This was the first real friendly face Lorelai had found at Chilton, "Hey, are you this nice to my kid?"
"Yeah, it's easy. Rory's a sweet girl."
"No argument here."
Max lowered his voice, "How is she liking Chilton?"
"Oh, she loves it."
"Really?"
"Oh yeah. I mean it's an adjustment, of course, bus rides and the work load, but she's always wanted to go to Harvard and this is how she'll get there."
"Harvard?"
"Yeah. Ever since she could crawl, I've really wanted her to go there."
"It's a great school."
"I actually bought her a Harvard sweatshirt when she was 4, which of course was way too big for her, so she used it as a blanket for a while and then as a make-shift diaper on this really ill-fated shopping trip…" Lorelai realized she may have said too much, "Oh, and now I've told you a story that would so mortify her, she'll kill me when she finds out you know."
"Don't tell her then. It'll be our secret."
"Well, I appreciate that."
"So, are you a B-52's girl?" Max asked noting her shirt.
"What?" then she remembered her green shirt, "Oh, No, I'm a klutz girl who should not drive with a coffee in her hand."
"I thought you were trying to cut that out."
"Well, yeah because apparently potholes and coffee make me jittery. I had this in the car," explaining her green shirt.
"You know, I hope Rory adjusts to this place. We need her here."
Considering the Paris horror stories and the unrelenting workload her daughter was plowing through, it was nice to have such high praise from an authority figure, "Wow, Thank you. That's so nice."
"And I hope she's not too disappointed about her paper; because it's very hard to catch up on all that reading material."
"Her paper?"
"I know a 'D' seems pretty dismal … no pun intended," Max found it so easy to talk to the friendly Lorelai.
"Wait, Rory got a 'D'?"
"Yeah, but…"
"She's never gotten a 'D'."
"It's the first paper she's had to turn in; she's bound to falter a little."
A "D" for Rory was more than a little, "Oh man, this totally explains the 'no ice cream' thing. God, I'm such and idiot!"
"The ice cream thing?" Max asked lost by the obscure reference.
"Um, it's a girl thing; actually it's a anyone who likes ice cream thing," Lorelai shook her head and focused on her daughter again, "Look, I…I've got to go."
"Well, I'm sorry if I've said something to offend you."
"Oh no, it's just that if Rory got a 'D', she's not feeling too good right now and I'd really like to be there for her."
"I understand," Max was impressed, Lorelai seemed on be a really hands on parent who genuinely cared about her daughter, not just her results and accolades, but her well-being. He wished some of the haughty Hartford elite would take a lesson from this Lorelai Danes.
"It was nice meeting you," Lorelai just wanted to be at her daughter's side and cheer her up.
"Um, watch out for those pot holes," Max joked, trying to end on a light note.
"Yeah, I will, bye."
"Bye."
77777777777777777777777777777777777777
Luke could tell by how his daughter just dove into her homework, things were serious. No smile, no Paris anecdote, she came in straight off the bus and immediately sat down to business at her favorite table by the window. He didn't expect her to pull a shift at the diner since Chilton consumed every free moment. If it hadn't been for the dinner rush Luke would have sat down and ask Rory what the trouble was. He could tell she was frustrated and overwhelmed watching her read and rewrite her notes, furiously erasing any mistake, and then when the tip of her pencil broke she threw it in aggravation, so he made his fatherly move. "Here," he slid a plate of pie on her table.
"Sweets before dinner?" Rory said perturbed, curious why her father was offering her something with high fructose corn syrup in it. "You feeling alright?"
Luke smirked, "You look like you need pie."
"I do?" Rory had been trying so hard to keep her troubles to herself but apparently she didn't have to worry about a career in the theater. Her father could read her like one of her books.
"Violent pencil tossing usually signals the need for pie," her father said dryly.
"What if I'd thrown a pen?" Rory volleyed back.
"I would've brought you a trout," He countered, ever the straight man.
"What?" Rory looked at her father like a typical teenager would.
"I don't make the rules, I just carry them out," His daughter didn't even crack a smile.
"Dad, I appreciate the thought, but I'm really not hungry."
Rory, not hungry, Luke knew something was up. That tipped Luke off that something was really off if his little eating machine was refusing food. "'The toil and weight of arms cannot be born if one doesn't control the stomach'."
"What?" Rory looked at her father as if he had turned green.
Luke sat for a moment, "Okay, now, I know you need to eat if you can't recognize Cervantes."
"Don Quixote," Rory suddenly recognized the quote, "We read that together."
"You know Shakespeare and him were writing at about the same time," seeing her English literature textbook and notes spread out on the table, figuring she was studying for yet another test.
"How did you know that?" Rory couldn't seem to keep the proper dates in her head and here her father would earn his gold star at Chilton.
"You told me that," he then offered, "Do you want to work upstairs in the office? It might be quieter?"
"No."
Luke leaned into his daughter to ask, "Come on, what is it?"
"Dad, I suck," Rory put her head in her hands.
"You do not suck."
"I do suck. I think I misplaced some of my notes at Lane's and Mrs. Kim is having a sale and things are moving all the time, so they are lost forever, and I needed them to study!" Rory was careful not to mention the Dean incident in front of Kim's Antiques, "And this week…" Rory was a millisecond from confessing all to her father, but her shame was too deep. She didn't want to destroy the image her parents had of her, admit that their daughter got a failing grade, that the faith of all the towns folk was being let down.
"Rory, take a break, please; Your mom will be here soon, and we can have dinner together and we can go over and look for the notes."
"Okay," Rory nodded; the words she had been reading were beginning to merge and blur together anyway, but she didn't have time, she had the textbook, and hopefully she could make her flashcards from that.
"Could I have more coffee please," was called from over Luke's shoulder and he sighed.
"I'm coming. Just close the books. We'll figure it out over dinner," Luke kissed Rory's forehead; he was up to get the pot for a round of refills. With the coffee pot, Luke met his wife by the door who affectionately greeted him.
"Hey," Lorelai kissed her man, "Backwards baseball hat… new look for you, and my favorite accessory," she smiled at the coffee pot. Lorelai looked at Rory's table, "She's eating pie? Did she even have dinner?"
"You raised her."
"We raised her," Lorelai shot back.
"She wanted to knock out some homework first, so we're having dinner together, like always. I just got to wait for Ben to show."
Lorelai thumbed in the direction of their daughter; "So what's with the before dinner pie?"
"She's had a rough day."
Lorelai sighed with him, "Well, it's Chilton, a lot of those are in our future. We don't want her to balloon up like Jabba the Hutt."
"Excuse me? My coffee?" the customer asked again, impatiently.
"Just a second," the Luke lowered his voice to his wife again, "Something is wrong, unfortunately, I couldn't really probe, dinner rush."
Lorelai patted her husband's arm, "You serve; I've got this," but Lorelai didn't let go of his arm at first, "Any chance I can get some pie?"
"After dinner? And only if you eat everything on your plate, especially if its green," Luke droned.
Lorelai sat with Rory, who was packing up her mountain of books, "Oh hello, bookworm."
"Finally, where were you? Dad's been keeping dinner warm for us. I'm starved."
"Well, um, actually I was in Hartford."
"Why?"
"I was there for the..." she gestured to Rory to finish the sentence.
"Parent/teacher meeting. Oh, my God. I forgot," Rory didn't even try to hide her wince.
"It went very well. I was extremely charming. I won the whole crowd over. They made me queen… and I got to meet Mr. Medina."
"Oh, so I guess you …talked to Mr. Medina."
"As is customary in Parent-teacher meetings when you meet someone you talk to them," Lorelai cut the cuteness and leveled with her daughter, "Why did you let me whine about ice cream and shoe sales when you had something major going on?"
"I know."
"I hate when I'm an idiot and I don't even know it. I like to be aware of my idiocy … to really revel in it, take pictures. I feel we missed a prime Christmas card opportunity."
"I'm sorry."
"You should've told us."
"I just… couldn't."
"You couldn't tell us? You're abnormally close, dotting, understanding parents? You tell us everything."
"It was just too humiliating."
"Oh, honey, you once told me that you loved 'Saved by the Bell'. What could be more humiliating than that?"
"I just couldn't form the words."
"Well, you'd just had to form a letter? And if you couldn't do that how did you get in Chilton." Then Rory gave her a look, "Sorry, not in the mood, got to be sensitive."
"I couldn't even say it. I couldn't even comprehend it, I just went numb, the bell rang and I couldn't even leave my desk …a 'D'. I got a 'D', I've never gotten a 'D' … ever."
"I know."
"Even when I broke my arm and couldn't write for a month, I still got an 'A-'"
"That was a different school."
"I know. It was Stars Hollow High. A 'D' at Stars Hollow is like an 'F' at Chilton. It's worse; it's like a 'G' or a 'W'.
"So I'm guessing the spelling test didn't go well either?"
"A 'D', I suck."
"You don't suck."
"Great, you sound like Dad. The last thing I need is people codling me. I can't do this."
"Okay, sure, a 'D' is bad; but all this talk about 'I suck' and 'I can't do this' and self pity… that's worse. That's not you. You didn't feel sorry for yourself when it took you three months to learn how to ride a bike, and you won't now. "
"Four months."
"Huh?"
Rory corrected, "It took me four months."
"Really? Four months?"
"Yeah, you want to belabor the conversation?"
"Alright, forget about the bike. Listen, a 'D' is one grade. It's not the end of the world. You'll catch up, you will do better. "
"This will affect my over all GPA, this is serious."
"The point is you can do this Rory, dad and I will help you. We will get through this; now put that 'D' behind you. Now what's next?"
"I have a test on Friday."
"Ooh a test! Great!" Lorelai perked up.
"It's on Shakespeare."
"Bard with a beard, love it!"
"It's worth 20 of my grade."
"Just makes life interesting. Now what do we have to do to get you an 'A' on that test."
It was a nice reminder of the bond she had with her folks that they would be so willing to dig in with her, suffer studying, "Do you really think I can do this?"
"I bet you a dollar."
"That's it? That's all my future's worth … one dollar."
"Well, you did get a 'D'," Lorelai shrugged and Rory finally chuckled, then she saw her father deliver plates to a table across the diner. Rory frowned again, "I don't know how to tell dad."
"Just leave that to me."
77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Luke froze, "She what?"
Lorelai hushed him, "Shh, don't yell about it; you'll make her self-conscious." Lorelai had taken Luke upstairs to their bedroom to inform him of what was wrong.
"How could she get a D? She's never gotten a D. Even when she broke her arm…"
"I know the story, and I know this is serious, but you can't make a big deal about this. We have to go down there and help her study for this test."
"Jeez, I haven't studied for anything in years."
"Well, thank God I'm in Business School, so I'm not so out of practice."
"I'd like to meet the idiot that gave my daughter a D. I thought these teachers were supposed to be the best. Rory can learn anything, what kind of idiot can't teach someone as smart as Rory. How senile is this old coot?"
"Luke, please don't take it out on him, he's really nice."
"How nice can he be if he doesn't see how special Rory is?"
"He does see that. I know you're protective of Rory and you would rather punch this guy in the face, but that won't help her standing at the school, or your standing at the school, or help her pass this test."
"But how can anyone know Rory and give her a 'D'."
"Well, we have a natural bias. Luke, trust me, he knows she's special, but there are 29 other kids in the class who have a head start on the semester, he has to hold to the same Chilton Standard for everyone, no special treatment, no exceptions."
"Why are you defending him?"
"I'm not, I'm trying to be objective, present all the facts…see all sides of the Rubix cube."
"Did you tell him that we hardly see our daughter now? That she's shut away from her friends and her family studying all the time. Killing herself to met their insane, inhuman standards."
"Luke, calm down. I see it too, she's on edge, she not as jovial, but right now we have to go down there and be supportive, make flash cards and quiz her for the rest of this week."
"Yeah, well punching this guy would make me feel better."
"I know, baby."
Luke and Lorelai came down stairs and Rory looked nervous, she had been sorting through her notes on the couch, "Hi, um did mom tell you the news?"
Luke crossed to the couch and hugged her, "Yes, and its fine, you could have told me that."
"I was in a state of shock, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Okay. You can always come to us, you know that."
Rory smiled meekly, "I was just, you know, ashamed."
Luke looked his daughter in the eye, "You have no reason to be. We are proud as hell of you; and we are here to help, we believe in you and you are going blow past this like every other academic challenge you've faced. Right?"
"Thank you," Rory smiled and gave her daddy a squeeze.
"What do you say to some brain food?"
"Yeah, study snacks!" Lorelai said gleefully.
"You two get started. I'll be right back," he kissed his daughter's forehead and released her.
Over the next few evenings, the Danes family camped out in their living room, Luke and Lorelai taking turns quizzing Rory on different information about Shakespeare.
Lorelai flipped to a new page in Rory's notebook, "Okay… 'The Comedy of Errors'… written?"
"1590."
"Published?" Lorelai challenged.
"1698."
"Ooh 1623…close" Lorelai feigned.
"How is 1623 close?"
"You got the '16' part right."
"I was off by 75 years."
"Hey, that's some pretty fast math skills you got there."
"Mom."
"What? Anything under 100 years is close."
"What kind of rule is that?"
"I'm running the study session here. Ok. Richard III?"
"1591"
Lorelai made a sound like a buzzer.
"'93?"
Again, Lorelai indicated the wrong answer with the harsh buzzer noise.
"'96?"
Thrice Lorelai buzzed.
Rory groused, "Ok, that's getting really annoying now," right on cue, Luke brought in another plate of snacks, "Stop with the noise."
"Fine, ruin my fun," Lorelai reached to the plate of fruit and peanut butter on crackers. "You know what I just thought of a trick."
"Those snacks are for Rory," Luke condemned her swiping the high protein snack.
"What? It's healthy and I'm helping her study; anyway, all of Shakespeare's comedies have some leading romantic couple, right?"
"Yeah?" Rory grabbed her own cracker since apples and peanut butter was one of her favorite snacks and tried to follow her mother's logic since they were just quizzing about publish dates.
"Well, all you got to do is picture your dad and me playing out the fun plots."
"Right…"
777777777777777777777777777777
Thursday night, Lorelai had her business class, so it was Luke and Rory for the first part of the study session until Lorelai could join them for the final push.
"Hey, hey, I'm here what'd I miss?"
Rory recited for her mother while her father checked her answers, "The sonnets are 154 poems of 14 lines."
"Except?" Luke urged, double-checking on a flash card he held.
"Except for 126 which is 12 lines."
"Good," he nodded.
"They are written in iambic pentameter."
"Except?" Luke raised a brow.
"Except 145, which is in tetrameter."
"Correct," Luke nodded.
"Really?"
"Not one mistake."
Rory sighed, "Whew."
Lorelai put an arm around Rory, "Good job kid," Lorelai encouraged.
"It sounds good. How do you feel?" Luke asked.
"Nauseous," Rory held her stomach.
Luke commented from the easy chair, "Yeah well, I don't think the fries and the horseradish was the best idea you ever had."
"It was satisfying in the moment though."
"Fries and horseradish? Interesting," Lorelai marveled at the ingenious combination, "Remind me to try that when I'm pregnant," Lorelai took off her coat, "Okay, tag team quizzing, where do I start? What's next?"
For another few hours, Lorelai challenged Rory with flash cards while Luke got more brain fuel snacks and skimmed her textbook for interesting factoids. Rory and Lorelai were going back and forth with facts while Luke was reading one of Rory's textbooks. "Huh," Luke said to himself.
"Did your brain make a wrinkle, sweetie?" Lorelai asked as she sipped some herbal tea since her husband wouldn't allow her to caffeinate herself.
Luke said astonished, "Men played all the roles? Even the female characters?"
Rory explained to her father, "Yeah, at the time it was considered immoral for a woman to appear on the stage, like they were all prostitutes and hoochies."
Lorelai grinned, "I wouldn't use the word hoochies on your test."
Rory continued, "Noted; so, Shakespeare would write D-R-A-G, in the margins for dressed as girl. It's amazing that it's lasted through history to give us drag queens today."
Lorelai concurred sincerely, "Thank God! Can you perform a scene from To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar for extra credit?"
Luke mused to himself, "Huh. Imagine if that rule was true today; Fatal Attraction would have been a whole different movie."
Lorelai and Rory giggled.
Luke stood from his chair, "Okay ladies, I think the best option at this time of night is for you to get some sleep," Luke kissed the top of Rory's head.
"Oh my hero," Lorelai sighed, and she reached across the couch to hug Rory, "I think you're going to blow that class away tomorrow."
"Thanks," Rory smiled but she still had her doubts. Her parents had helped her cram for three days but she wasn't sure if that was enough.
Luke and Lorelai headed up the stairs but noticed their daughter made no move. "Honey?"
"You guys go ahead; I want to review my notes one more time."
Rory saw how her parent's exchanged a look on the landing, Lorelai came down the few stairs and sat back on the couch with Rory, "Oh, that's ok, I'll stay up," Lorelai returned to the couch.
"Mom, go to sleep."
"No, I'm not even tired," Lorelai pulled a blanket around her.
Luke interjected, "Yeah, well, I'm thinking of you. Rory; you need sleep. Other wise you'll be running ragged all day tomorrow."
"Just one more time then I'll go to sleep I promise," and she gave her father the angel eyes.
"Well, then, I'm staying up too to make sure that's the case," Luke settled back in to the easy chair across from his daughter, picked up a stack of note cards, "Okay… talk to me about Twelfth Night. "
777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
Luke had gone into the kitchen to make more tea for himself. A half hour before, Lorelai had fallen asleep slumped on one end of the couch while Rory and Luke continued to study. Luke had learned more about the Bard in three days than he had his entire school career. He didn't know how much further out of his routine he could push himself. He couldn't believe how determined Rory was, how hard she was pushing herself for one grade. Grades were the measure of Rory's success, they had been all her life, and it was understandable that she would take this first set back at a new school considerably hard.
By the time Luke returned to the living room with a mug of tea for his daughter and one for himself, he found Rory slumped on the couch to. He smiled at all her hard work. Luke put the mugs down for a moment on the coffee table. Instinctively, Luke scooped up Rory and he carried her to her room. He tucked her in as he had back when she had chicken pox. He smiled at her, so proud of the hardworking, determined woman she was becoming, unfortunately it was the most relaxed he had seen her in days.
Luke headed back to the living room, and scooped up Lorelai, who had sleepily slung her arms around his neck when she felt his arms around her, unaware that her location would soon be changing. Luke carried his wife upstairs, placed her on the bed, and double checked his loud old fashioned alarm clock.
7777777777777777777777777777
"Rory, Rory wake up…"
"Hmm, Daddy?" Rory was surprised to find herself in her bed; the last thing she remembered was having a dream about her father running around in tights and her mother in a renaissance dress standing on the balcony of her grandparent's house.
"Come on, you got to get up," Luke encouraged.
"What time is it?" Rory groaned.
"6:15… you got to get ready, catch your bus, take your test…"
"Oh My God, my test!" Rory suddenly remembered and sat bolt upright in bed.
"It's okay, you've got time…you go shower and I'll fix you some breakfast…"
"Can you make it to go?!" Rory said frantically untangling herself from her blanket.
"Sure thing, go get ready…"
"Where's Mom?" Rory asked as grabbed her towel.
"I moved her upstairs. She can be a little late to the inn, you however…I believe detention is involved with tardiness."
"Thanks you're a life saver!" Rory quickly pecked her father's cheek as she headed up to the shower and Luke headed to the kitchen to fix Rory a mobile, brainpower breakfast for her test.
7777777777777777777777777777
Lorelai woke up in her bed just in time to feel her husband's arms return around her, "Hm, hey baby."
"Hey," Luke was exhausted, when Rory and Lorelai had fallen asleep he had taken then to their beds, and like a night watchmen he stayed up through the night to insure his daughter wouldn't sleep in.
Lorelai then gasped, "Wait, Rory, her test."
"She's already up, fed and out the door."
Lorelai realized that instead of being on the couch downstairs, she was in her own bed with her husband, "Did you do that?"
"I get up early anyway," he yawned, "She only lost 15 minutes."
Lorelai scooted closer to Luke, "We make a great team, Luke, you know that?"
"Team? You're the one who fell asleep on the couch while I was still quizzing Rory."
"Well, you wouldn't let me have coffee! What do you think was going to happen? I was waiting for you to wake me up for another turn at the flash cards."
"The rest will do her more good."
"Well, we won't know till she gets her test back," Lorelai bit her lip.
"Yup, all we have to do now is…" he sighed, "wait."
777777777777777777777777777
Rory arrived at school with time to spare before homeroom. She found a quiet corner on her own and ate her egg white bacon burrito, packed with protein and extra cheese, while trying to clear her head for her big test.
Rory tried to remain calm throughout all of her other classes, anticipating the dreaded test. As she entered Mr. Medina's classroom, she showed no weakness to anyone around her. She was the new girl; they wanted her to be weak, to crack under pressure. Rory wore a poker face as Mr. Medina stood at the front, handing out the test.
"You will notice a bonus question on the last page," Mr. Medina announced, "You've been so focused on Shakespeare for the last week, I thought I'd make it a little tricky."
Rory was curious and quickly peeked at the last page and saw:
Bonus Question: two hundred fifty word essay about another writer from Shakespeare's time. Free discussion.
Rory smiled, Cervantes! Thank you, Daddy. Rory dove into the bonus question first since those facts were suddenly at the front of her mind since her father and her had read Don Quixote together just over the past year.
777777777777777777777777777777777777
As Rory stepped off the bus in her beloved hometown she was beaming. The people of Stars Hollow sent curious glances toward The Hollow's favorite daughter over her appearance; her button up shirt was un-tucked, her Chilton tie was undone, her blue sweater was tied at her waist and her hair was tufting out from her pony tail. Luke caught sight of her and watched her as she crossed the street to come to the diner. He too was perplexed and somewhat amused by her disheveled appearance. Luke went outside to the corner to meet her. "Hey, how was the test?" he asked.
As soon as Rory saw him, she dropped her book bag to the sidewalk and gave him the biggest hug, "You are the best dad ever!! You don't even know how much you saved me!"
"Okay? Glad to help," he returned the squeeze, "I take it things went well?"
"Much better than expected," Rory sighed, "There was a bonus question on Cervantes!"
"You're kidding?"
"I know! It was an essay question about another author from Shakespeare's time. I couldn't believe it! Here's hoping that if my Shakespeare facts are off, my off the cuff analysis of Don Quixote and his author sends me over the top."
"Well, how about a chocolate milkshake to celebrate?"
"Add some of that protein powder and you got a deal!"
When Luke brought Rory home and Lorelai had just gotten home herself, going through the mail when she heard the front door, "Hey, why does she get a shake before dinner?"
"Because she stayed awake longer than you did; it's a reward for studying so hard on her test."
Lorelai was being cautiously optimistic, "Shouldn't we wait for a grade before we start celebrating."
Rory slipped her straw out of her mouth, "I have a very good feeling about it!" then went back to slurping her chocolate protein-powdered goodness.
Lorelai chuckled at Rory's unkempt appearance; she looked like she had just run through a scene of an action movie. "Well, I think you deserve a break. Movie? Lady's choice"
"As long as it's not Elizabethan, I'm good."
"How soon we forget," Luke said.
"What?" Lorelai asked.
"Dinner with your parents?"
"Damn it! Ugh," Lorelai got off the couch and went upstairs to get ready.
7777777777777777777777777777777
Luke came in the bedroom just as his wife was fastening a bracelet. Luke came up behind her, slid his arms around her waist. "Hey."
"Hey, did I hear the phone?"
"Yeah."
"Who was it?"
"I didn't recognize the number, probably a telemarketer," Luke kissed her neck.
"Alright, I'll check it. Why am I always the one who checks the messages," Lorelai scoffed.
"Hmm, because I'm the one always yells at the telemarketers, checks and deletes the messages, the one who cooks for you, fixes things around the house, do most of the grocery shopping, but I do share that responsibly with Rory."
Lorelai pulled his arms from around her waist, "Alright, I get it."
Yet Luke continued, "… make sure the bills are paid, make sure your car's fluids are topped off and in good working order…"
"Enough," she smiled as she went down the stairs to the living room; Luke really did take excellent care of her and Rory. Lorelai turned the volume of the machine up a bit, since the default position was turned down low as to not disturb movie watching, and pressed play on the answering machine, only to be surprised to hear the voice of Max Medina in her house. "Message one; 'Um, hi, this is Max Medina for um, Ms. Danes, that is the elder Ms. Danes. I know you were concerned about Rory's D; I just wanted to call and let you know that Rory did very well on her test. Also, I talked to Headmaster Charleston and he's agreed to let Rory do some extra credit work to help make up for her late start at Chilton. Now, I'm not sure what the extra credit work is yet, but it probably will be time consuming and extremely painful. It will however get Rory back up to where she rightfully belongs, so don't lose heart. Lorelai, you can make Chilton work for Rory. It was a pleasure encountering you. I hope it happens again.' BEEP! End of messages."
Lorelai was taken aback. It was very thoughtful of him to call like that so soon after the test, to remember Lorelai's concerns specific to Rory, but his tone, sure he was casual and joking, but it also seemed rather personal. Taking the liberty of calling her by her first name? It was a pleasure encountering you, I hope it happens again??
What about talking to the headmaster about Rory's situation; this painful excruciating, time consuming extra credit to bring up her grade. Lorelai had argued to Luke that Rory had to be held to the same standards, no exceptions, no special treatment and here her teacher was giving her special consideration, special assignments. This was definitely crossing a line of special treatment.
Lorelai couldn't think about Mr. Medina's good intentions for Rory further because Lorelai became overwhelmingly concerned about how well Rory was handling school. Lorelai noticed the change in her daughter, how hard she was working all the time. Rory got a "D" and couldn't tell her parents about it. If Rory was suffering in this class, what other classes did she need help in? Rory hardly had any free time for Lane, or fun stuff, every night, reading, writing, researching, cramming, and this teacher was suggesting she do even more work just to catch up? On top of her regular studies? Rory hadn't been her normal happy self since she got into this snooty school, and Lorelai wondered if Rory would become bitter and intense like the infamous Paris Gellar.
"Mom, can you zip me up?" Rory asked, as she came into the living room.
Lorelai turned to Rory, "Sure."
Once zipped, Rory smoothed out her dress, "You better get your shoes on; you know Grandma hates it when we're late."
"Yeah, back at you," Lorelai stopped her daughter from getting her own shoes, "Listen. How are you? Okay?"
"Yeah fine? Why?"
"Well, it's just…with school and everything. You've been killing yourself all week for this one test over a 'D'. Are there any other grades we should know about?"
"No, nothing I can't handle."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes," Rory dismissed but her voice betrayed a hint of doubt.
"Well, maybe you shouldn't be studying that hard."
"I had to work hard, this test was 20 of my grade," This was the moment when Luke came down the stairs, puzzled by the conversation his girls were having.
"Well, grades aren't everything."
"Excuse me," Rory had to laugh, "But I think they are everything to Harvard," Rory blinked then asked her mother, "You don't think I can do it, do you?"
"Do what?" Luke asked.
"You know that's not true," Lorelai defended.
"Then what are you saying?" Rory charged.
"I'm saying that you're young and I don't want you to develop an ulcer at 17 over schoolwork. You need to sleep and have some down time from all this intense learning."
"I'm catching up, I started behind everyone else."
"Then come up for air once in a while. Just hang out and be a kid." Lorelai swallowed hard to pose, "I'm saying that if you wanted to go back to your other school with Lane, without all the mean vindictive people, we would support your decision." Lorelai turned to Luke for support, but was met with a confused expression of what his wife was doing.
"You want me to quit Chilton?" Rory was appalled, "After all you went through to get me in? Just give up?"
"I'm not saying give up, but if you wanted to go to school with…less intense normal people again, that would be fine with us. If you're tired or stressed or working to hard, we as your parents are worried about that. "
"I'm not over worked."
"Ok, fine. It's just… well; I've been worried about you and sort of had a revelation this week. I can't remember a time when we weren't talking about you going to Harvard. Even when you met Luke you introduced yourself as one day going to Harvard. It's just been a given for so long, that is what we have been working for. Everything went in that direction."
"Exactly, Chilton brings us closer to that collective goal. So?"
"Lorelai?" Luke wanted to pull his wife aside. They just had a victory with this test, Rory felt she did well. Why was Lorelai derailing all they had sacrificed?
"It's just that I'm forgetting where all that started," Lorelai thought back to that Harvard sweatshirt she bought for Rory when she was four.
"What are you talking about?" Rory furrowed her brow.
"I'm talking about … did Harvard start with me? Or did it start with you? Was it my dream that you go to Harvard?"
"Mom."
"Lorelai, I have to step in here," Luke wanted to end the crazy talk. They had spent the entire summer writing letters to get her in, were now indebted to the Gilmores for paying for Chilton, and Lorelai was now telling their daughter to just give up this amazing opportunity.
"No, you don't get to step in; this was before your time."
Luke couldn't believe her nerve, "Well, I'm in it now. We just had a victory here; she thinks she did well on her test."
"What about her other classes?"
"Look, she got a late start, but she's a great student, she can do it."
"I know she can do it, but the question is why is she doing it? Is the reason she wants to go to a big fancy college because I never got to do the big fancy college thing? Maybe all this time I was thinking it's all for Rory, when really it wasn't, it was me indoctrinating her to do what I couldn't do myself."
Rory disagreed, "Mom, I'm not doing this because of you."
"Well, if you are, you don't have to."
"That's very good to know."
"We'll still love you. Even if you can't support us in our old age in the fabulous manner to which, well at least I plan on growing accustomed. We just want you to be happy."
Rory insisted, "I am happy."
"Well, we want you to be 'dancing through the woods crazy' happy. And if Chilton and Harvard is not going to do that for you, then forget about them, they're not worth it. Go back to Stars Hollow High. You said yourself that maybe you could get to Harvard from Stars Hollow anyway."
"Mom, I appreciate the concern, but …" Rory didn't want to give up now, her parents had taught her she had to at least try to prove she really didn't like something, like when she first met Luke and he argued with her that zucchini was good for her despite it's funny name. Rory couldn't just throw up her hand and let Paris and her plaid clad minions win after barely a month, "Look, I never caught up with all the reading. That's why I got a 'D' on the paper. I can catch up. I will catch up and when I do, everything will be fine."
"Rory…"
"Harvard is my dream. I want it more than anything, I swear."
"Yeah but …"
"Mom, you and dad taught me not to give up on something just because it's hard. I really do appreciate all that you're saying, but I'm not ready to give up on Chilton yet."
Lorelai sighed defeated, "Fair enough."
"However, to you both, I do reserve the right to change my mind."
"That's your prerogative as long as you remain a woman."
"Good, now that we have an understanding, let's go to Grandma's, and then we can plan our shoe shopping victims," Rory went back to her room to put on her own shoes and her coat.
Luke turned Lorelai to face him since they were alone again, "What was that all about? We've worked so hard to get her there and you just…"
"Am I like my mother?" Lorelai blurted out.
"What?" Luke didn't know what to make of the statement on its own.
Lorelai voiced her fears, "Did I set up a plan for Rory that she just accepted? Did I brainwash her into wanting this? Did I even give her a choice to do what she really wanted to do?"
"You are nothing like your mother," Luke soothed.
"Oh, you don't know, you weren't there," in a huff Lorelai heading toward the mantle of the fireplace, examining some framed photos of toddler Rory, looking for a clue as to how far back the Harvard delirium went back.
Luke went to Lorelai's side again, "Lorelai, I know you; you think I could have fallen in love with you if you were anything like Emily Gilmore?" Lorelai chuckled once, but the look of concern returned, "Lorelai, you just heard her. Right now she wants this and we get to support her through it."
Lorelai pleaded again, "But these standards are insane, she's just a kid. These administrators encourage horrible kids to treat each other like mortal enemies over grades. They set impossible standards that make normal people feel less than everyone else. You said it, they are inhuman. They are filling our daughter with stress and anxiety, she's going to go grey by twenty-one! It's tearing her apart, Luke."
Luke took his wife in his arms, "I've been worried about her too, but she says she can handle it. We have to trust that, trust her."
"But…"
"Lorelai, if you don't want to be like your mother, then trust Rory, let her make her own decisions."
Lorelai sighed, preparing for two hours with her mother.
"Besides Rory comes from hardy stock, and she's stubborn like you."
"I'm not stubborn."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Okay, you're not," Luke gave her a wry smile, as if proving his point.
Lorelai chuckled again, "You sure she didn't learn it from you?"
"Well, she has seen us dig our heels in over some pretty silly things."
"My stuff isn't silly."
"Let's go to dinner," Luke kissed Lorelai.
"Hmmm, when you say it like that I almost forget we're going to my mother's house."
777777777777777777777777777777777777777
"That was all God given talent..."
777777777777777777777777777777777777777
A/N: I thank you loyal minions and crack whores and keep reading. Working diligently on the next chapter!!
R/R: PLEASE, I like to better myself. To quote The Princess Bride,
"...Remember this is for posterity ... so be honest."
Please be specific with R/R; name one (or as many as you can think of or want to mention…) At least one specific thing you liked
Please! It makes me feel good...inside (Dirty!)
Hence the Rant option below.
Insert Rant here V
A/N: if not completely satisfied with this chapter, please return unused portion for a full refund...