AN: This is hard to start! Wish me luck!

Disclaimer: I wish this would happen on the show, but alas…Not mine.

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"The Dean, Harris Fellows, will see you now," the secretary in the admissions department told Jess.

He stood up from the chair in the waiting room. "Thank you," he said and walked towards the dean's office. This is it, he thought. He knocked before entering; a formality that he knew Yale would appreciate.

"Come in," he heard through the door. Jess pushed the door open and found himself face to face with the dean of admissions. "Welcome," Dean Fellows said. The dean walked back to his desk and picked up a folder. "Jess Mariano?"

"Yes sir."

"Would you care to explain your past educational experiences?" He asked, looking up from the folder.

"I attended high school in New York City for three years before transferring to Stars Hollow High. I attended for a semester and a half, but because of extraneous circumstances I couldn't go anymore. I took some time off and traveled for a few months."

"You typically don't hear of people taking time off from high school," he said with a condescending tone.

Jess was used to getting talked down to, but in this case he was particularly uncomfortable. He needed to make a good impression on Dean Fellows. "I know you don't want to hear a sob story of how horrible my life was, but I have to say that I have worked twice as hard to make up for that time. When I was in high school I had no direction, no ambition. I was smarter than most of my classmates but I was underappreciated. I know that is no excuse for dropping out of school, but you have to understand that I have made up for it.

"I returned to New York when I turned eighteen and I started back up at Lincoln High School. I tested out of all my English classes, both literature and writing courses. I had most of the requirements to graduate but I needed to retake the basics because I felt I could do better."

"I do understand that you may have worked to make up for the 'time off', but do you understand that it reflects poorly on your status as a student?" The dean asked Jess. His tone was stern, Jess worried that he wasn't going to finish the interview.

"Yes, I do," Jess said and nodded. "When I graduated from Lincoln, I went to City University of New York for a semester before transferring to SUNY. All of my credits transferred between the schools and as I understand it, they will also transfer here."

The dean nodded to confirm his assumption.

"When I first started at City, I enrolled in as many core classes as I could, as those were my weakness in high school. I wanted to focus on English, particularly on creative writing, but I had to first prove to myself and the school that I could excel in more than just my field of study."

"Your transcripts prove that you were indeed able to do that," Dean Fellows commented. "I would like to know why you transferred to SUNY and why you are applying here at Yale." He prepped his pen to take notes in Jess's folder.

"Well sir, I never planned to spend my entire undergraduate career at City. I knew that with my academic past, I wouldn't have been accepted to SUNY without other college experience. I worked as hard as I could at City so that I would be accepted. I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay at SUNY for the rest of my degree, but I would've been happy to stay."

The dean made some marks on his papers. "So why are you applying here at Yale?"

Jess needed to word his answer correctly, so he paused for a few seconds. "To me, Yale is the one place that could provide me with the education I am looking for. I believe that I would fit in well with the kind of people that attend. I am well read and I have managed to get my act together since high school."

"What makes you think you are ready for Yale? We are one of the top schools in the United States, our classes aren't looked upon as being 'easy', and we require much more than SUNY when it comes to courses and extra curriculars."

"I personally don't see the point of going to a university if all someone wants is to take those 'easy' classes. The purpose of college is to push someone, to get them ready for the real world. I worked my way through the last three years of school and I know that I will appreciate everything that Yale has to offer, extra curricular activities included. I want to be a part of one of the top schools in America, I the opportunity to further my education with the most esteemed professors available to me."

After writing a few more things in Jess's folder, Dean Fellows placed the folder back on his desk and stood up. "Mr. Mariano, I enjoyed this meeting with you."

Jess stood up and shook his hand, "I did as well, sir."

"You will be hearing from our office soon, thank you again for coming."

"Thank you," Jess said as he walked back out into the waiting room. That was…wow. Jess exited the building and stood outside before heading back to Rory's dorm. He had to leave a note on her door before heading back to Stars Hollow.

Went back to The Hollow, call me.

Jess assumed she had his number still, he certainly had hers. He left her dorm and went back to his car and headed back to Stars Hollow. When he was on the highway he saw a sign for Hector's Tacos. He remembered Rory saying something about Hector's tacos back when they first started dating.

Jess stopped in the drive through and got some famous tacos and finished the drive to Stars Hollow, managing to not spill any on his fancy shirt. He was unbuttoning the top buttons while he walked into Luke's, ready to start his first shift back.

"Why the formal wear?" Luke asked when he saw Jess go behind the counter and put on his apron.

"Ha ha," Jess said sarcastically. He wasn't ready to tell the entire town what he had just done up at Yale, and with Babette and Patty in the corner, it would be known under ten minutes. "I'm going upstairs to change."

Luke nodded, "Whatever." He was suspicious but decided to just ignore it. Jess had just come back; he couldn't be up to no good already.

Jess noticed that Luke had already cleaned out the apartment for him to stay in, and he went over to the closet to see if Luke had left him any clothes. He left he stuff in the car and didn't really want to make a scene of going back down to get it. Thankfully Luke had forgotten about the closet and there were still a few flannel shirts for him to borrow. He put his button down shirt on the hanger and but it back into the closet before he put the apron back on.

"Okay," Jess said when he got back out into the diner. "What do you have for me?"

Luke took his order pad out of his pocket and handed it to Jess, who looked like a younger version of him. "I'm going to go see Lorelai," he said and headed to the door. "You can take care of things."

"You got it Luke," he said, trying to sound sarcastic. He really was looking forward to 'taking care of things'. There was some kind of comfort in returning to the job he had as a kid. He was falling right into Luke's footsteps, except he was determined to get the girl sooner rather than later.

"What can I get you," he asked Babette and Patty. He knew the word was going to get out that he was not only back in town, but back in business…why delay the gossip chain any further? He pretended to wait impatiently for their orders, but happily answered their questions. Soon he was going to have nothing to hide.

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Everyone enjoy? It took forever to get going, but I think it turned out really well. No cliff-hanger this time, all of you better come back for the next chapter. I guess you all probably expected this to happen after the way I left you for the last chapter…but did it turn out like you expected?

This isn't my proudest chapter, but it sure does amp up the drama in the next one. Preview: Rory, and a little Hollow drama. OOohhh Drama.

Please review, thank you kindly!-- Okay, you guys RULE! As I post this, I have gotten 9 reviews on the last chapter! This is amazing! I love you!

Another little note – Ahh, tornados! Indiana weather is so unpredictable and SUCKY.