Acoustic#3
By Greeneyedwonder
Summery: What if Rory had lived with her dad growing up and he had married Sherry when Rory was three? Would her life be any different? Would her relationships at home, school, and with Tristin be any different? What if Rory was the Queen of Chilton along with Tristin as the King?
Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls, or the GooGoo Dolls, or the song by them.
Rating: PG
Pairing: R/T
'They painted up your secrets with the lies they told to you. And the least they ever gave you was the most you ever knew.'
Rory sat in her recliner chair in her bedroom, waiting for the hailstorm, otherwise known as her parent's bickering, to subside. Her family was like the glass figurines in her shelf… beautiful, charming, and perfect, until you slip and drop it and it all shatters to a million pieces. Rory stared at her figurines, unwavering, as she thought of this simple yet accurate comparison of her life. After 13 years of broken glass and broken nights, there were just too many distorted pieces to ever fit back together. Of coarse on the outside, the Hayden family was perfect. Never was there juicy gossip about the latest affair or most recent indiscretions of the gorgeous teen. No one ever knew the turmoil that surrounded Rory everyday of her life. No one new the real her. Rory Hayden, homecoming queen, prom queen, class president, and claimer of the highest GPA in the grade. Rory had it all; except for the one thing she wanted the most, normalcy.
'And I wonder where these dreams go, when the world gets in your way. What's the point in all this screaming, no one's listening anyway'
Rory went to school the next day, just as normal. It was almost comforting, that every night, her parents could be counted upon to fight. Getting out of her new black Jaguar Roadster, she waved to 'friends' and other popular people like her. Preparing herself for another 8 hours of acting like the charming, sultry, vixen that the rest of the school knew her as, Rory quickly grabbed the books that she needed. Following her morning routine, she entered the bathroom and checked her makeup. 'Perfect'. Yet Rory didn't feel as perfect as she looked. She stared at herself in the mirror. What had happened to the cute, sweet little girl whose big dream was to become the next Pocahontas? Where was the girl who wore her emotions out on her sleeve rather than becoming the preverbal 'Ice Queen'? Rory no longer saw the point in showing her emotions. In this world, people would take all your insecurities and fears and use them to their full advantage, or just ignore you because their latest nail breakage is more important than your crumbling life.
'Your voice is small and fading, and you're hiding here, unknown.'
In all honesty Rory hadn't really said too much this year. She no longer felt like speaking, when she couldn't say what she really wanted to say. Although she went on thinking that no one noticed this change, one person did. The King of Chilton himself; Tristin DuGrey. He had known Rory her entire life. He had been the sole person to notice her grim transformation from a wide-eyed innocent little girl to a forlorn, often detached teenager. He was also aware of her unbelievable abilities. He was willing to bet that Rory was so good at the mind games she played that she could not say a word for a whole year and still somehow keep her social status. She had unlimited acting talent when if came to fooling everyone into thinking she was fine. In all honesty, it really wasn't that hard. Everyone was so wrapped up in their own problems that they didn't even realize that Rory had uttered about 3 words in the past two days. Tristin knew long ago that he had always loved Rory. He was wiling to do just about anything to put a smile on her face.
'And your mother loved your father, because she's got nowhere to go. And she wonders where her dreams go, because the world got in her way.'
Sherry Hayden really did love her daughter. When she married Christopher, she had been so excited that she would finally get the daughter she had always dreamed of. She had vowed to herself that she would be the perfect mom. She refused to be what her mother had become. But after years of fighting with Chris, Sherry no longer had the strength to continue work on her dream. She watched, ashamed, as her daughter became more and more distant. Night after night, Sherry watched as Rory would come home from Chilton and go straight to her room, put blast GooGoo Dolls CD, and not come down until he maid called for her presence at dinner. While her and Chris fought at the dinner table, Rory sat in her chair, looking straight forward, always at the same spot in a painting. Sherry realized that Rory was numb to their words. To their actions. And that scared her more than anything in the world.
'What's the point in ever trying, nothing's changing anyway.'
At school, Rory never bothered to show anybody that she could be different. That inside the emotionless exterior lay a sea of feelings that never surfaced. She new no one really cared about her, and that hurt her all the more. Her one dream now was to get out of Chilton, and never look back on the callous, egotistical, self centered world that she had always known. Her plan was quite simple, really. Tonight, after all the servants had left, she would take the knife hidden below her bed, and cut her arm. She would break the window from the outside, and drip her blood on the carpet. It would look like she had been kidnapped. Her parents probably wouldn't even look for her, just play up the fact that their "dear daughter" had been kidnapped. A smile formed on her face as she thought of the night's planned event.
