Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay! But here it is, Chapter Four. And as always, I would love to hear your comments (it's what keeps me motivated)!

Chapter Four

Heartland

Rory walked into the house after a long day of cleaning out her locker, and telling her teachers that she was transferring out of Chilton. Rory was worn out by carrying her big box of books. She looked around to see her house to see that it was not normal. It was covered in streamers and posters of her favorite actors and smart people, as Lorelai would put it. To put it in simpler words; the house screamed Rory.

She was confused. Was today somebody's birthday? Who were they throwing a party for? Just then, she heard There She Goes playing and her mother running to meet her.

"RORY!" Lorelai ran and enveloped her in a hug.

"I'm sorry, but I'm kinda out of the loop. What's going on? And who stole my mother and replaced her with a melodramatic woman?" Rory said still confused by her mother's actions.

"Aww, there's that charm I love and am going to miss!" Lorelai again enveloped Rory in a hug.

"Ok, there is giving a hug, and then there is squishing my insides out, and you are crossing that line." Rory said in a stressed tone.

"Oh, sorry." Lorelai backed away.

Ever since Lorelai and Rory decided that Rory would move to New York and stay in one of the dorms at the high school, Lorelai was becoming more and more sentimental. With today being Rory's last day at Chilton, and the first day of their last weekend together, the emotional side of Lorelai was becoming increasingly apparent.

"So back to my original question." Rory laughed at the sight around her. "What is all this?"

"It's your Going Away To New York And Leaving Your Wonderful Mother So You Can Become A Snob And Get Some Fancy Education Bash!" Lorelai said officially christening the party with a name.

"Ohhh," Rory said, finally getting what this was all about, "well then, let's get this party started!" Rory dropped her backpack on the floor and followed her mother, who was already skipping, into the living room.

"Allllright! Now we have a very big weekend ahead of us. Which is why I have created this very handy dandy schedule." Lorelai said, scooping up a piece of paper, which was assumed to be, the schedule.

"But I thought you hated schedules. What happened to 'silly rabbit, schedules are for geeks."

"Ahh, well you like schedules and this is your weekend, so, voila! A schedule."

"Hmm, I'm starting to like this idea of my weekend." Rory said, pondering all of the things she could get her mother to do just because of this excuse.

"Hey, hey!" Lorelai said, snapping her fingers in front of Rory's face to focus her attention back to what she was about to say. "Let's get back to the schedule, alright?"

With Rory now paying full attention, "Alright, let's here this schedule of yours."

"Ok, today we hit the mall and get you some cute outfits for your fancy school. You want to make a good impression." Lorelai read off her list.

"Mom, you realize that I will be wearing a uniform, right."

"Of course I knew that!" Lorelai lied, unconvincingly, with a wave of her hand.

But Rory didn't buy it, "Uh huh."

"Anyways, as I was saying, we'll go shopping and then hit the movies."

"Sounds good." Rory nodded.

"Then Saturday is the day of all days. One gigantic Movie Night. Only it will be all day. And yes, you can choose the movies we watch."

"Yes!"

"And then finally, Sunday."

"Ah, yes. Sunday." The word Sunday was filled with dread because they knew that was the day that would separate the two until summer. It would be the longest they had ever been without one another. They avoided the subject as much as possible for that reason. However, they both knew the day was around the corner and they had to talk about it sometime, but not today. Today was all fun and nothing else. So, with that lingering thought in both of their minds, Lorelai jumped off the couch and yelled, "Come on Rory! Get your purse and let's motor! We can't waste anytime this weekend!"

"Coming Mom!" And the house became quiet again once the two shut the door behind them.

RGRGRGRG

"Ok, this has got to be the worst movie ever to come out in the '80s." Rory laughed while watching Maximum Overdrive as their finale to their last movie night in awhile. They were curled up on the couch with a sea of junk food surrounding them.

"Yeah, but you've got to admit, Emilio Estevez sure looked good!" Lorelai commented while sipping on the mug of coffee Luke sent over.

"I will never understand your strange fascination with him." Rory said while shaking her head and then reached over for a piece of chocolate. "You know what bugs me the most about this movie?" Rory asked.

"What?" Knowing there could be many things wrong with this movie, Lorelai wanted to know which part irked her daughter the most.

"Ok, why don't the trucks just run over the diner at the beginning of the movie instead of waiting like ninety minutes into the thing!"

Lorelai started laughing, "I know! And the music is all serious and scary and well, just plain awful!"

By this point Rory was laughing too. "Yeah! And how could a "radiation storm" turn machines into bad-tempered monsters out to attack their makers!"

At that, Lorelai and Rory started laughing more. Then Lorelai yelled "Ahh! Watch out for the homicidal machines! They're out to get us! Ahh!" And laughed and laughed until tears came rolling down their cheeks their sides hurt.

Once they calmed down, Lorelai nudged her daughter and said, "Nothing like a good comedy to end our night."

Rory turned her head to face her mother's, "You bet."

LGLGLGLG

Rory looked around what was now her new bedroom. Her mother had driven her down to her new school and helped her unpack. She had three other roommates, but they had yet to show their faces. Rory shared a room with one of them, so the room had all the basics. Her mother insisted on customizing her side of the room and helped her shop the weekend before. But now she was gone and Rory was homesick already.

She went over to the CD player that she brought from home and pulled out the Macy Gray that her and her mother both loved and put on I Try. She started singing along with the song and immediately felt like home.

Tomorrow would be her first day of classes, she thought. Something about that made her partially terrified, but also kind of excited. This would be the beginning of her ticket to Harvard. Nothing was going to stop her now.

RGLGRGLG

Rory walked into her first class and immediately took a seat in the middle of the classroom. She had thought long and hard about where to sit the first day of her first class the night before. The front? No, she thought. She didn't want to seem overzealous, like a teacher's pet. The back? No. She still wanted to learn something. That left the middle and after thinking about it for a few more minutes, she decided it was her best choice.

She turned her head to the door and watched the other students stream into the classroom. As the students came in, she noticed glances in her direction and whispers all around her. She grew increasingly nervous until she couldn't take it anymore. She sang I Try inside her head to try to calm herself and bring back good memories of her mother and all the words of encouragement she told Rory. It helped. Rory decided she didn't care what the kids were saying about her. She was here to get an education and that was it.

She took another look around the room. She could immediately tell who were the "good" kids and who, well, weren't. This was going to be a long day, she thought to herself as the teacher started to settle the kids down for class.

GGGGGGGGG

Rory opened her bedroom door and immediately flopped face first onto her bed. It had been a long day and all she could think about doing was sleeping.

"Tough first day, huh."

Rory was startled when she heard another voice in the room. She jumped up to realize that it was her long lost roommate.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Still coming out of her shock, she stood there awkwardly and said, "Oh, it's ok."

The girl stuck out her hand, "My name's Natalie."

"Rory, well technically Lorelai, but everybody calls me Rory." The girls shook hands.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you Rory."

"Yeah, you too."

There was an awkward pause, until Natalie finally broke it. "So, how was your first day here?"

"It was, well, -"

"Overwhelming?" Natalie supplied.

Rory smiled. "Yes, very."

"I bet. I remember my first day here. I was so nervous, I almost ran into a pole!" They both laughed at this.

"Well I have yet to do that. But as far as this day has been going, I think that's next on the list." They laughed again.

"So, can I ask you a question, Natalie?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Is everyone so…intense here?"

"Yes, I'm afraid that there are quite a few that work until the daylight's gone. Even the teachers."

"Wow." Rory thought she was an overachiever, but now, hearing that, her confidence was shaken. Could she really do this? Natalie's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Hey, I was thinking that we should really get to know each other better, since we will have to spend the rest of the year together, but I know how tough the first week is, so maybe we could go out this weekend to celebrate you surviving your first week here."

"If I even survive it." Rory said starting to doubt if this was the right decision to come here.

"Oh trust me, you will. I can tell you'll be fine. Now how about the weekend, you in?"

Rory smiled, "Yeah, I'm in."

"Good." Natalie returned the smile. "Now I'll let you get back to sleeping, or whatever you were about to do."

"Thanks."

Natalie left the room and Rory turned off the light. Maybe Natalie was right. Maybe she could do this.

RGRGRGRG

It was Friday night and Rory was getting ready to go out with Natalie. Natalie said she knew of a great little café that served the best coffee, and after hearing about Rory's fetish with coffee, she knew it was the perfect place to go. Plus, it had the right atmosphere, casual and comfortable, somewhere to catch up with old friends or in this case get to know new ones.

They walked off campus and down a few blocks to the café and sat at a table outside. They had ordered and started to talk about their families, friends, classes, favorite foods, music, colors, movies among other things.

Once they had finished their dinner, Natalie was anxious to see what Rory thought of the coffee, so they ordered two large coffees and a slice of chocolate cake. Rory was hesitant, saying nothing could be as good as Luke's, but after one sip, she was sold. It wasn't as good as Luke's, but under the circumstances, it was pretty damn close. So close, that they ordered a second cup to go as they headed back towards campus.

One thing they learned about each other was that they were both movie buffs, which Rory was grateful of. They decided to cap off their evening by watching a movie, or in this case, the first season of The Fresh Prince Of Bel Aire.

"I love this show. I don't know why, but something about seeing Will Smith in florescent colored clothing just really excites me." Natalie commented.

"Yeah, and you can't help but love that cheesy grin that Carlton always wears." Rory added and the two of them tried imitating it, but ended up giggling at each other's silliness.

Once they had both calmed back down, Natalie asked, "You know what I miss most about home?"

"What?"

"Well, first of all, being able to sing in the shower without worrying that someone will hear you." Rory laughed. "But more importantly, hearing the rain on our house's roof on a summer night. I know that sounds weird, but I just really like hearing that continual tapping that lulls you to sleep."

"Where is your hometown?" Rory asked, realizing after all the time they had spent getting to know each other, she never asked where Natalie was from.

"A small neighborhood in Ohio, kind of near Akron."

"Wow, that's pretty far away."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Natalie said with a sad smile.

"What's it like?" Rory asked.

"Hmm, well it's a small, close-knit community. It's almost like one of those neighborhoods that you would see on a T.V. show or movie. It's the perfect little town."

Rory smiled. It sounded just like Stars Hollow.

"So what about your hometown?" Natalie asked.

"Well.." and the two girls sat and talked about their hometowns and all of their quirks for the rest of the night.