Previously in "I am the Tower Around Which You Orbited: Date with the Night"

"Not tonight," she said.

"Not tonight."

She rolled out from under me and gave me another kiss before departing, leaving me to my empty bed and my thoughts. She knew that she'd be the only thing I'd be able to think about.

Chapter Six: Negative One

It was a Monday morning. The joy of school towered over my head as the alarm clock rang. Alarm means school, which means Dean. I did not want to deal with Dean today.

Luke was already awake, quite obviously. He was opening up the diner downstairs. I got up and turned off the alarm, remembering what had almost happened here on Saturday night.

"Rory…" I said meekly, staring at the bed. It was hard not to think about her. She was a Gilmore. A peppy, beautiful and caffeine-addicted Gilmore. I sighed heavily and went into the bathroom to shower the sweat of sleep off of my body.

I pulled my shirt up over my head, and looked at my reflection in the mirror. There was something bothering my shoulder, but I couldn't tell what. I turned ever so slightly and saw a small cut on my shoulder, no clue where I got it. I checked my black eye. It was healing over pretty well. Damn swans.

The shower's cold water pelted me and I welcomed it. The pure joy of going to school soon just made me feel oh so warm inside.

Basically, I did all of the Monday morning stuff after showering. Shaving, clothing, hair-gelling. Luke sometimes says I groom more than Lorelai does, which is kind of scary. But then again, I've never seen any of the Gilmores groom, so I can't really compare myself to any of them. And I doubt Luke has.

On Sunday, Rory and I sat up here, watching those old Alice in Wonderland shows. I don't know why, but we did. It was kind of odd. But anyway, that was all I had seen of Rory yesterday, and I hadn't seen Dean since the floor incident.

The floor incident.

Now that, that was a good incident.

I stepped down the stairs, dreading what Luke was going to say now that I was late. Stepping into the diner, I automatically saw Rory and Lorelai.

"I still don't understand how you can strain a muscle in your tongue. Your tongue is one big muscle. I mean, there's no way to strain a muscle inside of a muscle, now is there? Ow."

"Mom, don't talk, you'll just make it worse."

"I can't talk. I can't have coffee. Might as well just cut the damn thing out of my mouth for good."

"I wouldn't object to that," said Luke, coming up behind the Gilmore girls with coffee in hand. "Refill, Rory?"

"Yes, please."

"Hey, you didn't ask me!"

"You can't drink coffee. You've strained a muscle in your tongue."

"How did you do that anyways?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"Good morning Jess, nice of you to join us. Go serve food," Luke said dangerously.

"Whatever you say." I smiled at Rory and she smiled back. "You have no food yet."

"She's not allowed to eat food if I can't. Ow! That really hurts!"

"Lorelai… maybe you should just keep your mouth closed," Luke said, coming up behind Jess. "Food. Go. Serve it. Did you not hear me the first time?"

"Geez, sorry."

"Rory, honey… ow. You need to get to school."

"I have five minutes."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Luke, give me coffee. Now!" she said, forcing her large mug towards the backward hatted man behind the counter. I had to chuckle.

"I have to get to school," I said after handing two plates to some diners.

"I guess I should go too."

"Go. But make him give me coffee."

"No."

"Why not."

"Because, I'm not going to give you coffee," said Luke, irritated.

I walked out the door, and Rory followed. "Looking forward to school?" she asked me politely.

"Very few people actually look forward to school."

"Oh, I got you something." She pulled a book out of her backpack and handed it to me.

"Shakespeare?"

"You've never read Shakespeare."

"I don't want to read Shakespeare."

"Shakespeare is amazing."

"I can never understand what he's talking about."

"I'm not keeping it."

I took the book from her hands and stuck it in my back pocket. She slung her backpack over her shoulder. She was wearing her Chilton uniform, obviously, because she was going to school.

"I'll see you after school," she said.

"Bye." I watched her as she ran off to the bus stop just in time for the bus to drive up and her to get on.

I debated whether or not I'd actually go in. I could tell that Luke was watching me from the diner, so I walked up the steps of Star's Hollow High and the place that I call my little niche of hell.

I pulled the book Rory had given me out of my back pocket. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Again, I'm not a big Shakespeare fan, but I tried it. I got to the second line and practically gagged on myself without being able to understand what the hell was happening. So I put it make into my back pocket.

I walked to my first class, and, without realizing it, brushed past Dean. All he could do was glare at my back. It wasn't until I was almost at the other end of the school that I felt his gaze upon me. I turned to face this giant of giants.

"Dean."

"Jess."

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, Jess… nothing. Just, I don't know. I want you out of my town, away from Rory. What more can a man ask for?"

"Well, then, I'm surprised that you're asking for it, then."

"Oh please Jess. You can come up with something better than that."

"Yeah, but I'm dumbing it down for you."

"Oh, c'mon Jess. I can take your full-blown insults."

"Only because you wouldn't be able to determine what the hell I'm saying." The bell rang. "I have to get to class, Dean, so why don't you just take your zombieself and stay out of my way."

The next thing I knew I was against the wall. "Oh, c'mon Jess, fight like the man that you supposedly are."

People around us running to their first class panicked, stopped dead. The chant began. "Fight. Fight. Fight."

I turned on Dean and punched him square in the eye. "Don't… ever… touch… me… again." He looked pissed, and then clipped me right on my bruise. Wincing in severe pain (being punched on a barely healed black eye sucks), I glared at him.

"Interesting threat coming from a guy who gets beaked by a swan."

"All right, that's it." I ran at him, full force, knocking him over. I got several hits in, and he knocked me right in the balls. Falling backward on the floor, he jumped up, nose bleeding. He was about to come at me when a teacher came in and pulled him away.

"Mr. Forrester, Mr. Mariano, my office," came the voice of the principal.

I glared over at Dean, and he returned the glare, shaking off the teacher's hold.

"I don't understand it. Two perfectly… well, one perfectly respectable and sane boy and one hooligan going at each other in the middle of the school's halls. Jess, not even you do that."

"With all due respect, sir, Dean started it."

"Yes, I know that Mr. Mariano, but you could've ended it. Now, I'm sending you both to the nurse to get cleaned up and then you're both going straight home, you understand? And tomorrow, you will come back to school, you will not speak to each other in the halls, and you will stay after for detention. Do I make myself absolutely clear?"

We both nodded and said, "Yes sir" at the same time. I walked out before Dean, down the hall and out of the school.

"Mr. Mariano!" the principal called after me, but I was already out the door.

Luke was going to be pissed. But what about Rory?

THE END of chapter six

I am aware that I'm making a lot of Shakespeare references, but that is only because we are reading Romeo and Juliet in school. also, I am aware that this subject is a bit cliched, but I'm trying to bring a bit of my own spin to it. if you don't like it, too bad.