Author: JavaJunkieAngel

Title: Down To You

Summary: When a new guy comes to Stars Hollow, he hits things off with Lorelai. They seem like the perfect couple, and Luke is happy for them. Ha! Yeah right.

Pairings: Luke/Lorelai Lane/Dave (undertones) Rory/Jess (a little bit) Lorelai/Charlie

Spoilers: I read that Rory's not going to Harvard, and there's something about Jess's dad mixed in too.

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! I hope you liked the whole Charlie/Luke/Lorelai scene. Anyway, the main focus on this chapter is the essay contest that's in Chilton, if your confused check out chapter 3 of the story.

* * *

"All of you I must say an excellent job on your essays. I was surprised at some but I knew that you all gave it your all. As you are all aware the winner will be the valedictorian but the essay wasn't the only factor in picking. I as well as teacher advisors looked through the records and achievements of all the students so everyone had a fair chance. Now I'm happy to announce the winner of the contest and the valedictorian for this year's graduation is Miss Rory Gilmore!" Headmaster Charleston announced during an assembly at Chilton. When Rory heard her name she looked up and saw that almost everyone was looking at her, everyone except Paris Gellar who was sitting next to her.

Rory was told to stand up and walk over to where Headmaster Charleston was. She did as she was told and smiled shyly at the audience.

* * *

Lorelai walked to her office and shut the door; a huge pile of paper was waiting on her desk for her to organize. The phone rang and she answered it, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Charlie"

Lorelai's face lit up when she heard who was calling. "Hey."

"Remember when we were talking about going on another date?"

"Yes."

"Well it just so happens that my meeting for tomorrow night was cancelled so I was wondering if you weren't doing anything - you can maybe watch a movie with me."

"Sure I'll love to."

"Great, listen I have a class now so we'll talk later okay?"

"Mmkay."

Lorelai hung up the phone; she smiled 'Another date with Charlie.'

* * * Luke was serving a customer when she walked in, at first he thought he looked like Lorelai but when she came closer she looked different. "Hi, can I get a menu please?"

"Sure" Luke said handing her a menu. She scanned it for a while before putting it down. "I'd like a salad and an iced tea please."

"Coming right up." Luke went to the kitchen and made the salad. 'At lease she's a healthy eater. I mean she didn't order coffee.'

A few moments later Luke came back out with her order. She smiled and he returned to severing customers. When she was done, he picked up her plate and gave it to Caesar to wash. "Thanks, that was a great lunch, here's you money."

Luke took her money and gave her, her change. "Thanks."

Luke watched her go outside and passed by Lorelai who was smiling as she walked in the diner. "Hi, can I have a huge cup of coffee to go?"

"Uh sure, but I'm sorry for the thing on Friday."

"Oh that? It's okay, I mean it's not like you did it on purposely. Right?"

"Um - yeah right."

Lorelai sat down on the stool, waiting for Luke to give her, her coffee. Luke got a to-go cup and filled it with coffee. 'I can't be jealous of every guy she goes out with I mean, I just look out for her as a friend.' Luke's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Lorelai's voice yelling his name. "Luke!"

Luke looked at what he had done and realized that he had overfilled Lorelai's cup - and this was not the first time. "Oh sorry, I'll get you another cup."

"Okay" Lorelai said. 'He's usually so careful when he pours my coffee.'

"Here and since it's my fault that I had to replace it, it's on the house."

"Thank you, I have to get going I can't leave Michel at the Inn alone any longer."

* * *

"You okay?" Rory asked Paris on the way to class. After the assembly Paris ran off somewhere with Madeline and Louise and she didn't get a chance to talk to her.

"I'm fine." Paris said coldly, her voice sounded angry, yet worried with a little bit of sadness too.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I mean just because I didn't get valedictorian doesn't mean it's the end of the world. Not getting into Harvard, yeah I was mad I mean my whole family went to Harvard. How do you think it feels to be the only Gellar that didn't get in, and I thought for sure I would be valedictorian, I actually thought I had a chance. But then you came and ruined everything. You got into Harvard, you got valedictorian, what did I get? An acceptance letter to the University of Hartford!"

"At lease you got into college."

"I'm still waiting for my acceptance letter from Yale."

"You'll get it, don't worry."

"Your lucky, I mean Harvard is the best school in the country."

Rory smiled a little, she was having second thoughts about Harvard but she kept those to herself, which was hard since she shared everything with her mother. "I don't know if I'll go to Harvard, I mean I got in to Yale and Princeton too."

"Not go to Harvard? I mean that's crazy, insane. That's insanely crazy."

"Insanely crazy?"

"You get the point, Harvard is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Not everyone gets into Harvard, trust me I learn from experience."

Rory felt even more nervous, 'Paris isn't really making this thing any easier. I have to leave.'

"Listen I have to go, see you later." Rory said leaving. She sighed and walked down the halls, hoping that Paris wouldn't follow her.

* * *

Rory walked to Luke's, she saw her mom sitting at a table already reading a magazine. She walked up to her and sat down on a chair across from her. "Hi."

"Hey sweetie how was school?"

"Well, I got valedictorian and Paris is giving me grief about choosing a college."

"That's great, we need to go out and celebrate. We'll rent movies and buy all the junk food in Doose's, and we'll go to sleep at like 5:00am and wake up wondering, what happened last night."

"That's great but I think I'll pass. I need to prepare a speech and Headmaster Charleston told me to have it in by four weeks so he can read it and make any changes."

"That sounds boring, guess what?"

"What?"

"I have another date with Charlie!"

"That's great, he seems really good for you."

"I know he's perfect."

"Who's perfect?" Luke said walking to their table.

"Charlie."

"Oh." Luke had an annoyed tone in his voice, 'Does he talk about him 24/7?'

"Yeah, I was just talking about how perfect he is for me." Lorelai said dreamily.

"Okay, so what can I get you?"

"A burger with fries and coffee." Rory answered

"Same here but with chili fries."

"I wonder how you can eat this crap."

"Yes, but if I weren't for us to eat the wonderful food you call crap then you would be out of business, therefore you have no other place to serve the wonderful food you refer to as crap." Lorelai announced happily.

"Whatever." Luke said walking away.

"Nice speech." Rory said

"Thank you, I was working on that one for weeks."

"Sure, you were. I'm going up to see Jess." Rory said standing up. She went up the stairs and opened the door, she heard Jess talking on the phone.

"Oh, so now you want to be part of my life? What about before? I have a girlfriend too you know and I don't want to leave her just to be with you and whoever your going out with." Jess yelled. He slammed the phone and looked at Rory, who looked confused.

"Hi."

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay, so who were you talking to?"

"My dad, he's been sending me postcards and things. Things are a little shaky between us, I mean more than ever. I really don't want to talk about it."

"Okay." Rory said, she felt uncomfortable standing there; just looking at Jess who she assumed didn't want to talk.

"Listen you don't have to be all quiet. I'm fine." Jess said

"I know it's just I never really heard of your dad, I mean how you too keep in touch."

"Sorry for not telling you."

"It's fine, I mean I guess you weren't ready."

"Yeah, listen want to grab a bite to eat?"

"Sure, I think the food we ordered is ready."

"Bring it here and we can watch a movie."

"Great." * * *

A/N: Pretty long chapter, with Lit in it too. At first I was going to make Paris pregnant but then I decided not to because I wasn't sure how to fit it in with everything. So for the moment Paris is still - Paris. I'm not sure if I should continue with the Lane/Dave couple thing. Maybe we'll see more of that in the later chapters but it's not going to be a huge possibility.