Title:
American
Beauty
Chapter:
One
Authors: Bent137 and ChristineCS
Disclaimer: Neither of us claims
ownership on any of the Gilmore Girls' characters mentioned.
Summary: AU. Paris deals with
the type of competition that comes tall, dark and handsome.
Author's
Note:
Yes, this is loosely based on the movie American Beauty.
*
Paris
Gellar shifted positions in her chair for what had to have been the hundredth
time. She looked up at her companion and pointed the tip of her pencil to the
paper in front of them. "You call this an article, Louise?" Paris
rolled her eyes and allowed herself to scoff a little as she reached for her
red correcting pen.
Louise
Grant rolled her eyes, flipping her frosty blonde hair behind her shoulder.
"Well, does it not contain words?"
Paris
shot her a glance before uncapping her pen. "Words, Yes. Sense, well that
would be a resounding no." Paris moved her pen over the paper, changing
words here and there, separating run on sentences, and capitalizing what needed
to be capitalized.
"I
wasn't aware I had to be grammarly correct," Louise replied absently,
checking out the new arrivals coming in the door. "That's your job as
editor."
Paris
chose not to answer that question and turned her head towards the door to see
what Louise was looking at. Her mother and father stood there. Her mother looking
overbearing and cold as always, and her father looking uncomfortable.
"Hello?
Are you done yet, Paris?" Louise asked. "Because I would like to
continue my social life within the next lifetime."
Paris
frowned and turned her attention back to Louise. "Fine, yeah you can
leave. I'll see you tomorrow."
Louise
almost commented on Paris' odd behavior but then decided not to test her good
fortune of being released from the day's lecture. "Fine. See ya, Paris." She
stood up and made a beeline for where Tristan DuGrey and Michael Stevens were,
she wasn't one to test her luck.
Paris
waited until the other girl had left before addressing her parents. "What
do you want?" she asked looking at her mom.
Evelyn
Gellar smoothed back her dirty blonde hair before replying to her daughter.
"We're here to make an appearance, honey. The most influential families
are here tonight and we want to make sure you don't screw up!" She turned
to her husband, who looked uncomfortable and meek. "Sheldon, stand up
straight, the DuGrey's are watching."
Paris
rolled her eyes as she folded up Louise's article and slipped it into her tiny
handbag. "Fine, I'll mingle. That's what you want isn't it?"
Evelyn
reached out and fixed her daughter's hair. "Yes, and smile. You'll repel
people with that scowl of yours."
That
only made Paris scowl more, "Fine." She walked past them and scanned
the room for someone she knew.
The
event was probably the most boring thing she'd had to attend in her life. Yet
she mingled, and she tried to smile. She even found a few people she could hold
an intelligent conversation with. Paris contemplated the evening as she walked
into her room, slipping off the restricting heels on her feet and tossing them
lightly into her closet. She grabbed her pajamas off of their hook and walked
into her bathroom. She emerged moments later, teeth brushed, face washed, and
clothes changed. She hung the dress she'd been wearing earlier in a garment bag
to be dry cleaned before stepping out onto her balcony.
The
cold cement numbed her bare feet and the wind whipped her hair in her eyes. She
sighed looking out over the west side of the Gellar estate. She could make out
Tristan's house from here, barely thanks to the manor next door, but the lights
in its signature tower gave it away. She had thought maybe that was where his
room was. It seemed like him to want to be on top of the world looking down on
everyone. She smiled a little at that thought then turned around and walked
back inside her room, shutting and locking her balcony doors behind her. She
then pulled the curtains closed and climbed into bed.
Jess
Mariano sighed, the dark night coming up empty through his telescope. It was
too bad, because tonight he longed for escape tonight. Tonight. The first night
back into his parent's cold house and presence. It had been nice, though he'd
never admit it to anyone ever, to live in the warm and loving town of Stars
Hollow. But, like everything else in life, nothing lasted forever.
He
swiveled his telescope to the right, spying the neighbor's house. A flash of
moment caught his eye and narrowed in on it. That's when he saw her. She wasn't
beautiful by any conventional means but she had presence. And loneliness, a
kind that seemed to mirror his own. When she went inside, he felt this
inexplicable sense of loss.
*
Louise
leaned against the wall as she took a sip of her water, and looked sideways at
Paris. "What's wrong with you? Did you hear about the scandal-heavy?"
Paris
cast a glance at Louise out of the corner of her eye and adjusted her books,
digging into her locker for another pen. Her other one had just started to run
out of ink. "Nothing's wrong, and did I hear about what?" She looked
at Louise confused.
Louise
sighed, for Paris was one always out of the loop. "Your neighbor."
"Mr
Murphy?" she asked as she shut her locker. "What about him? He lives
practically alone except for his maids and is about eighty-nine."
"The
Marianos," Louise said, agitated. "God, don't you even know who your
own neighbors are?"
"I've
never really cared. Neither side has given us the time of day." Paris
contemplated it more as she walked a bit away from her locker waiting for
Louise to follow her. "Wait. I think I met the Mariano's once. I was only
ten if I remember right. They were two very strange people."
She
followed Paris, "Yes, well their son is back."
"They
have a son?" Paris paused outside the doorway to Mr. Medina's class.
"Yeah.
He's our age, apparently they booted him out a few years ago," Louise
paused thoughtfully. "No one knows where. My bet's a mental
institute."
Paris
opened the door to the classroom and walked in, "Frankly Louise, I don't
really care." She stopped suddenly and Louise ran into her back. Paris
couldn't take her eyes off of the dark haired boy sitting in her seat. She
quickly regained composure and stalked over to him. She glared down at him
tapping her foot impatiently on the tiled floor. "Excuse me, you're in my
seat."
Jess
studied her under hooded eyes. "Mr. Medina told me that there was no assigned
seating." She was getting angry, he could tell. The girl was kind of cute
when she was angry. "And, frankly, I don't see any mark of propriety on
the seat. Thus making it, not your seat."
Paris
fumed, and though she tried to hide it it showed. He eyes widened, then
narrowed with an intense look and her nostrils flared a bit, "I have been
sitting in that seat since the first day of class. It is in prime position to
utilize the acoustics of the room providing in optimum hearing of lectures with
an unobscured view of the blackboard for taking notes." She huffed a
little and stamped her foot on the tiled floor as though to make a point.
He
was in hot water, but this could be fun. "Has it ever occurred to you that
maybe, just maybe, other people would like the prime position. Especially
people who just arrived and need the position to catch up on all the work they
have missed. It might just make it easier on those people."
Paris
frowned, it was clear the imbecile was not about to move. She'd just have to be
sure she got to class extra early the next day. "I will relinquish it for
today, but you should be plenty caught up tomorrow. Consider this your one
favor." She slid into the seat behind him, glancing at Louise who was
sitting next to her.
Louise
leaned over and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I told you. Mental
institute."
Paris
leaned towards her and whispered back, "That is him? That is the Mariano
kid?"
Louise
rolled her eyes, "Did I tell you about any other new kids?"
Paris went quiet and sat back straight as class began. She kept staring at the back of his head wondering how she could have missed that before.
*
The hall was fairly quiet; everyone else had left almost 10 minutes ago. Paris approached her locker and opened it. She pulled two books and a notebook out of her locker and stuck them in her bag. She counted her books and notebooks and came up with one missing. She sifted through them again wondering what she had missed. It was her English notebook. She dug into her locker looking for it, but her locker was nearly empty anyways and it wasn't there. Mentally cursing herself she zipped up her backpack and slammed her locker door shut. She looked up and down the hall, no sign of Louise, which meant most likely she'd be a little late meeting her. Probably making out with some jock by the locker rooms. Paris slung her backpack over her shoulder and hurried to Mr. Medina's room. She was disappointed when she got there however, the door was shut and the lights off, he'd already left for the day. Paris turned and went back to her locker to wait for Louise. She set her bag at her feet and leaned against the wall to wait. She watched the few people that were left head for the doors. She was surprised when she saw Tristan DuGrey come from down the other hall and open his locker; he pulled something out and shut it quickly, as he headed for the door. Paris cast her glance the other way down the hall and was relieved to see Louise's familiar blonde head bowed down examining her nails as she walked towards Paris.
Louise looked past Paris' shoulder to watch Tristan's retreating figure. "That boy looks just as good going as he does coming." She shifted her attention reluctantly to her friend. "So anyway, I learned some more stuff about your new boyfriend."
Paris cast Louise a scathing glance, "He's not my boyfriend." She pushed off from the locker and began to walk towards the doors.
Louise rolled her eyes, as she followed Paris out the door. "Crush. Whatever. Same difference, Paris."
Paris turned to look at Louise, "I do not have a crush on him!" She pulled out her keys and walked towards her car. "My place again?"
Louise groaned. "Again? We just studied yesterday." She waved off the comment before Paris could break into a tirade. "Fine. But if we have to do this can't we make it, like, a group effort?"
Paris gestured towards Louise's bag, which she knew contained her cell phone. "Fine, call Madeline see if she wants to come," Paris said stopping to wait for an answer.
Louise shrugged. "Sounds fine to me."
"Alright call her see if she needs a ride," Paris walked over and leaned against her car to wait for Louise to finish.
Louise pulled out her navy blue cell phone, chosen so that it'd match her uniform, and pressed the button that'd automatically hook her up with Madeline's number. "Mads?"
"Louise?" Madeline Lynn replied, snapping her gum. "Why are you calling? I'm only on the other side of the parking lot."
She held her breath and counted to five before continuing. "We're doing a study session at Paris'. Don't forget my Yummy Berry lip gloss and my Mental Black nail polish."
"But Louise you all read...Oh!" Madeline remembered the code. Yummy Berry was Tristan's name and the second one was harder. But rumor was that the new kid was in a mental institute and he had black hair! Ah, yes. "Got it. Consider it passed along."
"Thanks," Louise replied before shutting off her cell phone. It'd be so much easier if Paris would allow co-ed studying instead of doing all this sneaking around.
Paris looked at Louise and snapped at her, "So is she coming? Does she need a ride?"
Louise shook her head. "Yes, she's coming. No, she doesn't need a ride."
"Great," Paris said opening her door and climbing into her car, "Get in." She put the keys in the ignition and turned it on.
To Be Continued…
