A/N: Glad y'all are digging the sappy. It won't all be like that, but at least I know you don't hate it when we head down that path from time to time ;) Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Here's more!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 5

"I could certainly get used to this," said Rory happily as Jess drove them to school. "Arriving at Chilton in style."

"I'm not sure a car like this is exactly a style icon, but it beats the bus," her boyfriend agreed. "I still can't believe Luke bought me a car. It's crazy. The guy already spent a fortune on the apartment and school."

"He cares about you," Rory reminded him. "Luke is all about the family loyalty. He's always been so good to me and my mom, and I always thought it was sad he didn't have any blood family around anymore. Now he has you. I think he likes being useful, helpful, y'know?"

"I guess," agreed Jess, nodding his head.

Honestly, as much as he appreciated it, this was all still a little weird to him. He wasn't at all used to having people care about him or want to help him out. His whole life, Jess had to learn to depend upon himself. Between his absent father and useless mother, plus a string of step-fathers and 'uncles' that usually couldn't care less, it was a 'me, myself and I' situation being Jess Mariano. He became okay with it, mostly because he had to. It was a real learning curve undoing all that independence, allowing Luke, Rory, Paris, even Lorelai and Lane to be a part of his life, a family of sorts.

"Hey. Are you okay?" asked Rory as they pulled into the parking lot.

Jess had a habit of going quiet on her sometimes, and usually she didn't make a big deal. It was just the way he was, thoughtful and even moody some days, but this was so sudden she felt the need to check.

"I'm fine," he promised, glancing her way and finding a smile. "I am," he added firmly, leaning over the gear shift to kiss her lips. "C'mon, let's go."

They headed into school together and the day got off to its usual busy start. Classes were already intense, in spite of them only being a week into Senior Year, but then it was necessary. There was a lot to achieve in the last few semesters before college began. Rory tried not to think about it most of the time. Nervous energy built up into a ball in her stomach and made her feel queasy when she considered college applications and the reality of actually leaving Chilton someday soon. Mostly she put it out of her head, concentrated on one thing at a time. Unfortunately, her brain was wired in such a way that it was usually thinking so many things at once, she really couldn't stop it. That was probably why she came to be so distracted that she literally ran into somebody else in the hall on the way to her locker at lunchtime. Books and papers went skittering in all directions, and the person who she had bumped into wandered off, leaving her to it.

"We really need to knock the klutz gene out of you this year," said Paris, arriving on the scene in time to be of help, though she sighed and huffed about it before getting down onto her knees with Rory and assisting. "I don't think Harvard appreciates this kind of thing in their prestigious halls."

"Anybody can drop their books, Paris."

"Exactly, anybody," she said pointedly. "You and I are going to be somebodies, not anybodies."

Rory rolled her eyes, gathering up the last of her things and heading on to her locker. Paris followed, as she might have known she would, talking a mile a minute about college still. It seemed to be her only topic of conversation of late, or at least one of two. She liked to bring up Jamie every once in a while as well. Rory actually preferred the nervous chatter about the famous first date to the constant drone of college talk that made her feel so out of her depth, and always annoyed Jess to no end if he was present. She wished he were now, since he would have no qualms in telling Paris to let it go already. Rory could do it herself, but somehow, she rarely did.

"I think the seminar this week will help a lot," said Paris, finally getting her friend's attention back.

"I'm sure it will," she agreed. "In the meantime, could we maybe dial back on the college application talk just a little? It's enough pressure knowing the forms are sat there at home waiting for me."

Rory started walking towards the cafeteria, expecting Paris to protest about being asked to quieten down. She was surprised to note her friend wasn't speaking, at least until she realised why.

"She really doesn't know when to quit, does she?" said Paris of Francie.

Rory barely heard the comment, though she was staring at the very same scene and not liking it much. Jess was shoving books into his locker, whilst Francie stood nearby, leaning into his personal space and twirling her hair around her finger like a pro. It was no secret that she liked Jess. Before they had started dating, Rory had seen Francie and Jess flirting, and that was fine. Now it was different, now everybody knew that Jess was with her, and Rory was not at all happy to see Francie playing up to her boyfriend.

"This is getting beyond a joke," she muttered, feeling like deja vu was setting in as she stalked down the hall towards Jess and Francie.

Paris followed, smirking some, a look learnt too well from Jess, that was for sure. She loved when Rory got mad at people, it was a sight to see. Gilmore needed to grow some balls sometime soon, preferably before Harvard came calling. If her boyfriend could inspire the attitude, so be it.

"Hey," she said with fake cheerfulness as she reached Jess' side.

"Hey," he replied, slamming the locker door shut without so much as a backward glance at Francie. "Let's go," he said, an arm around Rory's shoulders as they headed for the cafeteria.

Francie called something behind them that might've been 'We'll catch up later' but Jess didn't react and so Rory didn't feel the need to say a word. Paris wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but wasn't willing to let it go, that was for sure.

"What does Pippy Longstocking want with you? Besides the obvious," she asked Jess, rolling her eyes.

She had to assume the attraction was purely physical, the bad boy thing that so many supposed-good girls went for, but something made her wonder. Francie was a manipulator and somewhat of a Queen Bee at Chilton, being as she was leader of The Puffs, not to mention Senior Class President. Paris wouldn't put it past her to be up to something much worse than taking Rory's boyfriend out from under her.

"Francie likes to talk, a lot," said Jess with a sigh. "I'd tell you exactly what she said, but frankly, I wasn't listening."

"You must've heard some of it," said Rory, not looking at him. "Was she... I'm guessing she said things about me?"

Rory half expected to hear that Francie had been bad-mouthing her, telling Jess how she wasn't the girl for him and he'd be much better off dating someone like Francie herself. It seemed she was way off course with that guess.

"You? No," he assured her. "Now, Paris, that's a different story."

Paris grabbed his arm and pulled him to a halt when he said that.

"Tell me, Mariano. What is that snake up to?" she asked, looking just about ready to kill someone given the look on her face.

Jess sighed. "Do you know how much I really don't want to be part of your political drama? Man, you two get in charge of student council and suddenly I'm the pawn that can be used to manipulate it all. I'd be flattered, but it's a little too West Wing for my taste."

"Spill it, Jess, or so help me-"

"She thinks you're crazy!" he cut in fast, already tired of this conversation despite the fact it only just started. "Okay, she has this idea that you're power-mad and that she should be the one in charge. Personally, I could care less about student council, but apparently Francie seems to think I have pull with the Student Body President and her Vice."

Paris' eyes were wider than Rory had even seen them. She couldn't imagine hearing herself described as power-mad came as a shock, since she was usually pretty proud of those kind of titles. Maybe the surprise was that Francie would want to control her, though she was the type so that really shouldn't be such a big deal either.

"I can't believe she thinks you could be so easily played," she Paris eventually, "or that I would be influenced by you or anyone."

"What can I say, sis?" Jess shrugged. "Clearly you're losing your edge."

Without another word, he headed on into the cafeteria. Rory thought about following but was torn between that and checking Paris was okay. She opened her mouth to ask, only to hear a growl emit from her friends' throat.

"I'll fix her," she said, presumably of Francie, before storming off in the opposite direction.

Rory called after her, but apparently it was too late.

"Rory? Rory?" Lane tried twice more to get her friend's attention, finally succeeding on around the tenth attempt.

"Huh? I'm sorry, what?"

"You were helping me cut down this list of musical influences for my drummer-seeks-band ad, and I already ran through everything from A to C and you haven't said cut once."

Rory looked down at the paper on the table, though her eyes weren't really seeing the words. She should be concentrating, she knew she should, but she really wasn't.

"I'm so sorry, Lane," she said, shaking her head. "I guess I have a lot on my mind."

"Anything you need to talk about?" she asked, watching Rory glance at Jess behind the counter and away again fast. "Trouble in paradise?" she guessed. "Because I'm really not sure I'm the best person to give advice on that. I can try, but-"

"It's not Jess," said Rory, keeping her voice low on purpose. "Or it is, kind of, but... It doesn't matter," she insisted, shaking her head in the negative one more time. "Mostly, I'm worried about the whole Harvard thing. The application anxiety has been setting in ever since the forms arrived in the mail and filling them out actually made it worse. I can't even think about the essay part right now. So, let's get to this list," she said, taking the pages from Lane and starting again from A.

Rory tried to concentrate, she really did. Unfortunately, her brain was running a mile a minute with a hundred other things. She hadn't lied to Lane, the whole applying to college thing was a large part of why she felt so distracted, but Jess was another part. It wasn't really his fault and she knew it. Francie trying to use him was just nasty on the part of the red-head, and more to get at Paris than at Rory herself. It was Shane that bugged her more, the brassy blonde from Stars Hollow High that seemed to like nothing better than showing up at the diner in the smallest shirt possible and leaning right over the counter whilst she talked to Jess.

He promised he had no interest in her. They weren't even friends, just friendly, that was all. Rory didn't want to be the kind of girl that asked her boyfriend to freeze out any other female who came within three feet of him, but where Shane was concerned, Rory was very much tempted.

"Um, so maybe get it down to just the most important influences," she said to Lane, trying desperately to concentrate on her ad. "Like David Bowie."

"Essential," said Lane, nodding her head.

"Yes, he is, but maybe don't list all his albums and your rating out of ten?"

"Especially if you're going to get it so wrong," said Jess leaning over her shoulder.

Rory jumped. She really hadn't known he was there until he spoke. He pointed to the paper and scoffed. "Seriously? You ranked Scary Monsters higher than Ziggy? I used to respect you, Lane!"

They started a healthy debate on music that even Rory couldn't quite keep up with, and usually she was not lost in a Bowie-based conversation. She sighed. At least she didn't have to worry about Lane trying to steal her boyfriend out from under her. A best friend would never do such a thing.

It was grossly unfair, Rory knew, to not trust Jess more. Just because other girls were interested in him, it didn't mean he was interested in them, in fact, he had assured her more than once that he definitely wasn't. Maybe it was something she could talk to her mom about later, Rory considered. Relationship woes were Lorelai's speciality after all, at least until she got together with Luke.

To Be Continued...