I stared at my results with wide eyes. "This can't be right," I muttered.
"I assure you, they are," Ms Geist said with a beaming smile. "You've done marvellously, Ava! With scores like this, you should seriously be considering an Ivy League."
"An Ivy League," I echoed disbelievingly. All I knew was that Harvard was out of the question. I wasn't planning on going to college with the genius sister. The sister you beat at verbal.
"Have some brochures," she said eagerly, handing me a huge stack. She was clearly thrilled. Me? I was just trying to hold back my complete and utter shock and failing miserably. I walked out of her office to find Jess waiting for me, a curious look on his face.
"Ivy Leagues," he noted the brochures in my arms with a raised eyebrow.
"Shut it," I warned him.
He lifted his hands in the air innocently. "So I take it you aced the PSATs?" I ignored him as we headed to my locker. "So, when are you going to tell the Lorelais?"
"Uh, never?" I said emphatically. "They'll make it into a huge deal."
"It is a huge deal," he said as we got to my locker.
"I am actually afraid by the lack of mocking in that sentence," I informed him as I unlocked the door.
"There's no mocking," he said, and at my look, added, "Seriously."
"I don't want supportive friend Jess right now," I informed him, throwing the brochures into my bag and getting out my books for my next class. "I would like delinquent Jess."
"Even delinquent Jess kind of wants to know just how good you did," he said. "Coz you have the kind of wide eyed, did something bad kind of look."
"I bet Rory in verbal," I said quickly. "She beat me in math, though. So it's no big deal. Right?"
He gave me a look. It was totally a big deal. The artist daughter wasn't supposed to beat the Chilton attending, genius daughter.
I was surprised to find my mother waiting for me when I arrived home.
"I thought you had class," I said in confusion.
"I'm missing it," she said, a rare expression of seriousness across her face.
"Okay," I said, officially unnerved. "Is everything okay?"
"I got a call from your guidance counsellor, Ms Geist," she said, and I dropped my bag on the floor. Of course, in the perfection that is my life, the Ivy League brochures fell out for Mom to see. "She told me how hard you've been studying, how you aced your PSATs, how you've even been involved in the art club, the book club and the newspaper."
"She shouldn't have told you all that," I said, feeling myself go red as I quickly put the brochures back in my bag.
"Ava," Mom said gently. "You have amazing scores. You've been trying hard at school. Why would you not want me to know all that?"
"It isn't a big deal," I said, walking into my bedroom. Of course, Mom being Mom, she followed me.
"Why wouldn't you want me to know?" she insisted.
"You're making a big deal," I said with annoyance.
"It's just… you've always been smart, Ava," she said. "But you've never seemed interested in college the way Rory has been."
Okay, that was it.
"Says who, Mom?" I said angrily. "Because I wasn't dreaming of Harvard from kindergarten? Because I love to draw and that translates into not being good at school? Or maybe because from the age of six everyone decided Rory was the genius?"
For once, Mom was genuinely speechless.
I took a breath. "Look, Rory's the favourite. I get that, believe me. But if you had ever taken one second to ask me what my college plans were, you would know it involves getting the hell out of Stars Hollow and figuring out where the hell I belong! You wanna know why I try so hard? Because it's the only way I have of getting out of here!"
I stormed away from her, slamming the front door open. To my joy, my storm out was ruined when my foot sank through the porch.
"Seriously?" I moaned, looking at the sky. "There's no mirrors broken, no ladders walked under, no shoes on the bench! This day sucks."
Mom and I weren't speaking. More accurately, I was avoiding her. This was considerably easier than normal, because she was preoccupied by the news that our house had termites.
Rory, who didn't know what we were arguing about but thankfully was staying out of it, let me know that it was going to cost $15,000 to fix the house.
"Oh my God," I gasped. "We're never eating again."
"Hey, that's what I said," she said, amused and that uncomfortable feeling I'd gotten when I'd seen my results returned.
That night, Mom woke us up in the middle of the night.
"I can hear them chewing," she announced as she walked into our bedroom.
"Who?" Rory asked sleepily.
"The termites, they're everywhere, nibbling and eating and swallowing," Mom ranted.
"You're insane," Rory said.
"I can't sleep here," Mom insisted. "We have to go to Sookie's."
"It's eleven o'clock at night," Rory complained. I remained silent, resolute in avoiding conversation with my mother.
Regardless of the time, we were soon bundled up and outside Sookie's house. I was especially foul, having to listen to Mom's termite rants.
"There they are, my little termite whisperers," Sookie greeted, and I smiled. She was so cheerful, it was hard to be my usual sarcastic self around Sookie.
"Hey Sookie, sorry to call so late," Mom apologised.
"Mom's lost her mind," I added, ignoring the look Mom sent me.
"I'm sorry, but they were getting organised and I heard one of them yell 'charge!'" she quipped.
"We'll make this up to you," Rory said.
"What are you talking about? This is great. It'll be like a slumber party!" Sookie said, almost jumping in excitement. "We can raid the fridge, make a nice avocado mango face mask, get out the tarot cards, tell fortunes, play Twister, make a Haagen Dazs chocolate/chocolate chip ice cream milkshake, we'll watch Purple Rain…"
"Sookie, it's midnight," Mom said.
"Okay, let's go straight for the milkshakes," Sookie said.
"Good thinking," Mom said.
Not wanting to spend any more time with my mother than was necessary, I quickly excused myself for bed.
Friday night dinners. They weren't my favourite time in any given week, and add Mom and my fight to the mix, and the tension was just awesome.
Mom taking an aspirin for a tension headache led to questions by Grandma as to why Mom was so tense, which of course led to Rory revealing we had termites when Mom had explicitly told her not to.
"Mom, wait, what are you doing?" Mom asked Grandma, who had gotten up.
"I'm writing you a check," Grandma said.
"No, you're not," Mom said. "Hold on there."
"How much do you need?" Grandma insisted.
"Nothing," Mom answered.
"Don't be ridiculous, just tell me how much you need."
"I can handle this," Mom insisted. "I appreciate the thought but I don't need your money."
"Not unless it's for Rory's school," I muttered, and all three women turned to look at me in surprise.
"Oh great, so you're mad at me for not asking if you wanted to go to Chilton?" Mom said.
"Ava wants to go to Chilton?" Grandma said in surprise. "I didn't think she would want to go to that sort of school."
"As is the Gilmore assumption about me," I said with annoyance.
"You want to go to Chilton?" Rory said, not even bothering to hide her surprise.
"No, I don't want to go to Chilton," I said. "But I just love the assumption that dumb Ava wouldn't want to go."
"No one thinks you're dumb," Rory protested.
"And you're the one who hides everything from us," Mom said, and Grandma looked at us curiously.
"What are you hiding?"
"Nothing now," I said. "Can't we go back to the termites?"
"Yes, just accept the cheque, Lorelai," Grandma said.
"The house isn't going to fall down," Mom said with annoyance. "Let's not make this a big deal, let's sit down, have a drink and have dinner, okay?"
"Alright," Grandma said, sitting back down reluctantly. "So what is it that Ava is hiding?"
"Her intelligence, apparently," Mom said.
"You wanna have this out here?" I snapped.
"Hey, you're the one who brought it up," Mom returned.
"Okay," I said, turning to my grandmother. "I am in the book club, the art club and I write for the newspaper. I took my PSATs and I aced them. I even beat Rory in verbal. And apparently, I should be looking at Ivy Leagues," I looked away from my shell shocked Grandma and at my mother. "Happy?"
"You beat me in verbal?" Rory asked.
"You beat me in math," I countered.
Simultaneously, we all took a drink from our glasses.
"Dinner's ready," Grandma's maid of the week announced.
I was sitting on the bridge, bundled up as I read.
"Hey," Mom said as she sat beside me.
"You know my favourite spot?" I said in surprise.
"I guessed," she admitted. "But do you know every single time we crossed this when you were little, you always wanted to play here? Sit on the edge, look over. I hoped I still knew that much at least."
I nodded. "Yeah, I remember."
"I don't know how it got like this between us," she said quietly. "Rory and I… it's always been so easy, you know? And you never seemed interested in being a mama's girl. I think if Chris had shown up more, you would have been a daddy's girl."
"Maybe," I admitted, remembering how fond I had been of him as a little girl.
"I'm really proud of you," she said. "Those are amazing scores. What you are doing with school, that's amazing. I just wish you felt like you could share it with me. I don't want us to be like my mom and me."
"It's different," I said, struggling to explain it. "In everything I do, I am compared to Rory. Everything except my art. I don't want you to read my articles, or know how good I am in English because I know it will all be compared to the genius twin. Mom, when we went to Harvard neither of you considered I might want to go to an Ivy League. Nobody considered I might want to go to Chilton."
"I'm sorry," Mom said genuinely. "I really do want to try more with you, Ava. I love you both the exact same. Never doubt that."
I knew my mother loved me. I just didn't really think it was in the same league as her love for Rory, the daughter she had named after herself.
"So, come on," she said, getting up and holding her hand out to me. "How does a coffee sound? Maybe we can start on what I've been missing."
I stared at her hand for a moment, somewhat surprised that she was offering this to me. That she wanted to try. Finally, I put my hand in hers and allowed her to pull me up.
We'd probably never be as close as she and Rory were. But the off chance that we could, that was what got me to follow her.
Author's Note: I've been a bit lost on this story, hence the lack of updates, but I'm getting back on track with it. Not great timing though, as I am heading overseas for six weeks.
However, when I get back I do have a storyline unfolding of where I want this to go. Would love to hear what you think of the chapter, please review :)