"Everyone wake up and get cleaning now!" Rory screeched as she bounded down stairs and darted directly to the coffee maker.

Collin was the first down, and dropped by just in time to spot Rory sculling down coffee shots,

"Are you alright?"

"Just peachy, why wouldn't I be, is there a reason that I should be?" Rory snapped, her voice slightly raised,

"Damn, you sound like Paris, I don't even know Paris that well,"

"Well, Paris is pretty self explanatory...hey! I sound like Paris?"

"Just a tad, are you sure you're peachy?" he asked concerned, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder,

"Yep…just, let's get this place cleaned up okay?"

He gave her one more worried look before walking off,

"Hey Collin! My throat hurts!"

"Well coffee's hot…try ice cubes," Collin's voice floated down the stairs.

"Hey Ace, we're out of garbage bags,"

"Grow a fucking brain, you've got legs, use them, walk to Doose's and buy some more!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, stop there," he pulled her back as she tried to quickly brush past him, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," she said, not looking him in the eye,

"Bullshit, tell me what's wrong," he demanded pulling her close to him,

"I…just feel like…an idiot sometimes,"

"And who do I need to bash for making you feel like an idiot? Because you are the smartest person I know,"

"No one,"

"I think I know who you're talking about though, but don't worry, I won't touch him if you don't want me to,"

"Good," she said giving him a small hug,

"You know I'll always be here for you right?"

FLASHBACK

"You know I'll always be here for ya Ace?"

"I'm not stupid Logan, I know you're always here for me, I'm your best buddy, plus you practically live here these days so… you're always here,"

He made a face at her and she laughed at him.

5 months later

Ring. Ring.

Logan took his cell out of his pocket and glanced at the caller ID 'Ace'

"Hey Ace,"

"Logan, can you come over?"

"Maybe tomorrow,"

"I mean like right now," Rory was close to tears but Logan missed the desperation in her voice,

"Listen Ace..." his eyes drifted over the blonde in the seat beside him, "I'm kind of busy right now…I'll try calling you tomorrow,"

"But Logan--"

"Bye Ace."

Rory glared at the phone before throwing her coffee mug angrily at the wall, watching the glass shatter and the liquid stain the carpet before dialing another number.

"Yeah…you said that before…and then…and then Jay said it and he died and he's not here for me anymore," she started sobbing,

"Hey, I know I was an idiot and I'm sure Jay's still watching out for you," he rubbed her back soothingly,

"I know, thanks Logan,"

"Wanna go for a walk…let the rest of these stooges finish the cleaning," Logan offered his hand.

They walked in a comfortable silence around the gazebo,

"You know, everyone thought I replaced Jay with you? It's not true though,"

"Of course it's not true, I'm irreplaceable," Logan cocked his head arrogantly," He just took over the best friend position, since I failed miserably at it," he put his head down in shame,

"That's not true either, even through all our shit I still considered you my best friend,"

"Really?"

"Yeah, you know that time when all that shit happened to me at my house and mom was away…and well, I broke?"

"Kinda hard to forget things like that,"

"And everyone thought Jay was the first person I called?" he nodded in recognition so she continued, "Well he wasn't,"

"Oh?"

"Yeah I called you, and you were busy on some date and I tried asking you to come over, but you just blew me off,"

"Fuck, now I feel like a serious jackass,"

"So you should." The look on his face made her heart melt and she gave him a big hug, "So do it again and I'll kill you," she joked kissing his cheek,

"If I do it again I'll kill myself," he declared sincerely.

"Oh shit, I gotta bolt, I'm already late and Paris is gonna kill me," Rory exclaimed looking at her watch, she gave a Logan a quick hug and left.

"Gilmore! You're late!"

"By exactly fourteen minutes, nineteen seconds, do you mind girls?" Rory asked Paris and Maddie who were on Paris's bed, Maddie looked up from painting Louise's nails and gave a quick 'nope' and Louise continued chewing her gum and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "See Paris? They don't care,"

"Well I do, I aim for organization which includes punctuality while completing all assignments,"

"We're not working on an oral presentation about the discovery and uses of penicillin Paris, we're just preparing for a senior class battle of the bands, we only need to perform something to pass, it doesn't have to be perfect,"

"It does if we're going to win,"

"We don't need to win,"

"Yes we do!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"I bag bass and backing vocals, my singing teacher says I don't have a leading voice," Louise called dibs,

"Well I've got drums since that's all I know how to do," Paris shrugged,

"You know how to play the drums?" Rory quirked an eyebrow,

"My therapist thought it would be a good way for me to release frustrations,"

"Sexual? Because there are other things you can do for that," Louise smirked,

"No…just normal…frustrations, stress, anger, worry, not being able to do certain things…"

"So sexual frustrations," Madeline concluded,

"Can we just shut up and get on with it?" Rory glared,

"Oooooh, bitchy tone, who bit you in the ass?"

"The male species,"

"Tristan," the other three girls nodded,

"So can Steph be in our group? If she's with the boys she's guaranteed to fail, plus she can play guitar so she's useful,"

"That's cool, but what can you play?" Paris tried to speed up the meeting,

"Ummm…the tambourine….you just shake that around a bit right?"

"You're our lead singer," Paris stated,

"Definitely, I heard you sing in the bathroom once, you have a beautiful voice," Maddie clapped gleefully, "And I've got keyboard, years of piano lessons teach you something, and we can use the studio at my house that my dad has for when he brings his work home,"

"Can we dress slutty?" Louise asked,

"Nope, I heard Summer's group is trying Pussycat Dolls, real Pussycat Dolls have that special class, but Summer…"

"We'd look better slutty than her and her friends," Louise argued,

"True, but we're not gonna sink as low as to out-slut them…that's just sad," Rory replied,

"What are we gonna be then? Stupid teeny boppers?" Louise pouted,

"That's not a bad idea," Maddie said thoughtfully,

"Awwww, we could do pig tails and have mock cheerleader outfits," Rory started brainstorming,

"Can we at least be innocently slutty?"

"Fine, you and your little slut obsession can go through…if it's innocent,"

"Okay, we've planned enough for the day and don't think you're off the hook Gilmore, what's up with Tristan now?"

"Nothing!" Rory exclaimed as her phone went off, she looked at the ID, sighed and threw it on an empty bean bag. Louise pounced and smirked when she saw who it was,

"Good afternoon, Rory's Raunchy Hotline, she's currently with a regular right now, I'm her assistant Louise, are there any raunchy messages you'd like me to pass on?"

"…"

"Oi Rory! Tristan says he needs your sexy body to sex him up,"

"Oh go fuck Summer," Rory grumbles only loud enough that's it doesn't travel through the phone,

"Well she's out of order today, take a rain check?" Louise said into the phone,

"…"

"Sorry, you can't talk to her, like I said, she's out of order," Rory nods eagerly,

"But since you know she's here I might as well give it to her," Rory starts shaking her head viciously, "Because if I don't it would seem an awful lot like she was avoiding you, and she wouldn't do that without a reason and then I would have to interrogate you and her to get the right story out…but since she's not avoiding you I'll just hand the phone over," Rory glared at Louise who was looking innocently at the ceiling as she snatched the phone,

"…"

"No, I'm not avoiding you,"

"…"

"Do you even remember what happened last night?"

"…"

"That's what I thought!" she violently flung the phone at the wall and received three worried glances,

"I'm a snappy bitch, I hate Summer, and I don't like Tristan very much right now, and we have school tomorrow and I'm not going to be a very nice person and you three have my back!"

(School the next day…)

"This sucks ass," Louise grumbled, looking towards the centre of the cafeteria where their usual table was. At the table sat Logan, Collin, Finn, Tristan, Mike, Austin and Derek along with Summer, who was once again all over Tristan, and her best friends.

"Those are our seats, someone do something!" Paris whined,

"You're right, c'mon Steph," Rory grabbed Steph's hand and pulled her up. The two girls caught the limo boys' attention and ushered them over. Louise, Maddie and Paris craned their necks trying to see what was going on.

Collin, Logan and Finn went to the girls table and picked up each of their lunch trays,

"This way loves," Finn winked, the boys moved a nearby table over, connecting it with the other one.

Rory, Steph, Paris, Maddie and Louise took their new seats at the table with smug smirks, happy with the glares they were receiving from Summer's group.

Summer's friend, Anna, was perched quite comfortably on Derek's lap, oblivious to his quite obvious repulsion and Paris's deathly glare.

"Move! Or I'll bite you!"

Anna moved her gaze up to find the raging blonde staring her down…she quickly scattered, knowing for a fact that Paris was dead serious. When his lap was finally vacant, Derek pulled Paris down to her rightful spot, wrapped his arms around her waist and entwined their hands, placing a soft kiss on her cheek at the same time,

"Awww," cooed Maddie and Louise.

Steph noticed a look on Rory's face, a look that was very rarely seen,

"Rory…" Steph warned,

"Listen," Rory nodded towards the other end of the table, where Summer was situated,

"…If Lorelai Gilmore was my mother, I'd totally commit suicide or something, like live with a paper bag over my head…" Summer blabbed to her friends who giggled at everything she said,

"…She's stupid too, everyone knew Chris was fucking his secretary behind her back…their daughters not much better, I'm sure she's fucking everyone in this school behind closed doors…"

"Rory, be careful," Steph growled,

"I don't give a flying fuck what happens, I'm sick of her shit," Rory sprung up and marched around the table.

Rory quickly fisted Summer's hair and yanked it up so she was forced into a standing position at the same level as Rory,

" Are you seriously that brainless, that you go saying shit about my family right in front of me?"

Summer maintained her silent glare,

"And then you have the audacity to call me a slut, everyone knows you're the biggest one around, hell, you even slept with Edward Neaglebert so that he would do your science project,"

"Oh, don't deny the fact that you're one too," Summer sneered,

"I admit I was one, but that was a long time ago, and I didn't toy with guys feelings to better my grades,"

"Well, in the end I got the guy, and you got left with nothing, just like your mom," Summer raised a challenging eyebrow with a matching smirk,

"Fuck the chit chat," Rory tackled her into the chairs, Summer obviously hadn't expected that, her eyes were wide and her mouth left gaping at Rory's furious face. Summer slapped Rory and laughed as Rory gasper…big mistake.

Rory made a fist and cracked her in the cheek, she hesitated a little, not wanting to shed blood but hurt her enough to make it bruise. Both girls stood up and attempted to stare the other down, Summer took a swing at Rory, but Rory dodged it and instead, Summer's fist connected with Tristan's right eye,

"Thought I told you to practice that,"

After a mix of slapping and hair pulling, a strong force easily pulled Rory off Summer, who was immediately fawned over by her friends.

"Let me go Tristan!" snarled Rory,

"Not until you calm down," he said, keeping a firm grim on her arms behind her back,

"Alright I'm calm," she sighed, he felt her body discontinue her struggle and relax so he let go…big mistake.

Rory decked him on his left eye,

"Oooo two black eyes, from a couple of girls, someone's not as manly as he thinks he is."

Rory gave her 'girls' a look to follow and then flew out of the cafeteria.

"You punched her!" Maddie squealed excitedly as they all gathered in the girl's bathroom,

"Oh yeah," Rory smiled as she hopped onto the bench next to the sink,

"We didn't get to help take her down," moped Louise,

"Trust me we're not done yet,"

"Really?"

"Jeez, we sound really bitchy,"

"Summer's been bitchy for years, we're like…karma," Paris nodded,

"So… are any of you guys cheerleaders?" Steph asked,

"We tried out," Maddie said for her and Louise, "But Summer hates us and wouldn't let us on the squad, it's all about her and her pack of hyenas,"

"Well, next Friday, we're gonna kill their cheer… stay at my house over the weekend…I better go, more than likely Charleston will be looking for me, laters."

(Late that night)

"Mary got suspended," Lorelai mocked her daughter pointing through the video phone,

"Mommy, you're being mean,"

"I'm sorry, you're right," Lorelai changed her facial expression to a more puppy dog look, "This is me being sympathetic,"

"That's a very good sympathetic…pleading look, it's very…"

"I'm with Greenpeace, please save the whales?"

"I was gonna say it was more of a 'I'm trying to be sympathetic but I've got a super dooper sour lolly in my mouth that is making me look…all twisty'"

"I suppose that could work,"

"I miss you mom,"

"I miss you too, but I'm just a phone call away…so if you need any help with your mock-cheer thing, I'm good with rhyming words, look…book, cat…rat, bum…rum…silver…well don't use the word silver—"

"I love you mom,"

"I love you too babe,"

"Good night,"

"Sleep tight"

"Don't let the bed bugs bite!" the said together before hanging up the phone.

Review! Suggestions welcome!