Chapter Five
I Try
"Ahah! Soil!" Lane yelled and threw up her hands.
"What! Where?" Rory yelled back not believing her friend had scored once again in Boggle.
"Right there!" Lane pointed. "See S-O-I-L, soil! That is another point for me."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Rory muttered and put yet another tally mark under Lane's side of the score sheet.
"You think that at that fancy school of yours, they would teach you some fancy words."
"Yeah, well too bad I'm taking Boggle 101 next year." Rory dryly remarked.
"So…" Lane said, currently forgetting the game.
"So… what's new?" Rory said.
"Well… you remember Henry?" Lane said and immediately a large, goofy grin grew on her face.
"Korean doctor Henry from Chilton?" Rory asked, just to make sure they were talking about the same guy.
"Yeah, him."
"Well, what about him?" Rory said, intrigued.
"He called."
"What! What did he say, and what did you say?" Rory said, excited for her friend.
"Well, I didn't say anything because he left a message."
"So… what did he say?"
"Do you want me to give you exact quotes or just paraphrase?"
"You know the exact quotes?" Rory asked incredulously. "How many times did you listen to the thing?
"Only ten times." Lane responded innocently.
Rory burst out laughing, but stopped when she saw Lane glare at her. "I'm sorry." Rory said, still fighting the urge to laugh. "Continue, please."
Lane gave Rory one final glare then started her tale. "So he said that he had a great time at the party and that I should call back so we could find a time to meet again."
Rory squealed. "Ah, Lane that's great! Are you excited?"
"Yeah," Lane nodded her head enthusiastically, "…but, I can't go." Lane admitted sadly.
"What! Why not!"
"Uhh, hello Rory. Have you met my mother? If she finds out that I went out on a date with a boy that was not pre-approved by her, she would be so angry with me! I can just see her now, 'Lane Kim! How dare you go out on a date with a boy! Do you not have any respect towards me?' No Rory, I can't go."
"Well, it's not like my life is any better." Rory sympathized.
"Yeah, how is that school of yours?" Lane asked curiously.
"Hmm, where to start? Well first, half the students don't even deserve to be there. They just got in because daddy is a big shot and he wouldn't dare send them to a public school. So they all view school, and life, and studying, as one big game or something. I don't even know. And everything is so different there. I am constantly trying to adapt to all the changes that I have gone through in the last couple of months. Oh, and then there is the constant fear of just completely failing, which I am always reminded of. I just want to know when all of that leaves and my life can return back to normal."
"I can't say that I have the answer." Lane shrugged. "I just consider myself lucky that you could find time to fit me into your busy schedule."
"I know! I hate how we are never together anymore." Rory said, realizing a long time ago that it was one of the many disadvantages of living in New York City.
Lane looked down at her watch. "Hey, I better get going. It's tofu night at the Kim's and you know how my mom is."
The two girls reluctantly got up from their positions on the couch and moved slowly towards the door. "So you'll stop by and say goodbye before you leave, right?" Lane asked.
"Of course." Rory reassured Lane. They hugged and before Rory knew it, Lane was out the door, speeding towards her home so she wouldn't be late for dinner.
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Rory fished through her purse to find her keys. When she did, she opened the door and was greeted by Abbey who had just popped out of their room.
"Hey." Abbey said as she sat down on her bed while Rory plopped down on hers.
"Hey," was all Rory replied with.
"Something wrong?"
"Nah, just thinking about home."
"It's hard coming back here after visiting home." Abbey said.
"Tell me about it." There was a comfortable silence between the two when Rory yawned.
"You look tired." Abbey observed.
"I guess I am."
"Traveling can do that to you."
"Yeah, so if you don't mind, I'm going to got to sleep now so I can be fully rested for my classes tomorrow." Rory said, laying down on her bed and kicking off her shoes.
"Okay, goodnight." Abbey said.
And Rory fell asleep before she had the chance to change into her pajamas.
That night, Rory fell into a fitful sleep. Memories swarmed her head. She was constantly reminded of all of the good times Lane and her had. She wasn't dreaming, but she wasn't having a nightmare either. No, it was her wishing; wishing that she could still be with her friends from Stars Hollow.
RGRGRGRGRGRGRG
"Rory? Rory, wake up! Your first class starts in thirty minutes. Rory wake up!" Abbey shook Rory in attempt to wake her up. She was worried about Rory. When she came back last night, she didn't look herself. And now, sleeping through her alarm clock, not even making a try to get up, this was not the girl Abbey knew.
Abbey gave it one last shot. "Rory, please wake up!" Abbey gave her one last shake. This time Rory turned to her side and moaned, finally showing signs that she was alive. "Good god Rory. Get up! You're going to be late!"
"What?" Rory said, still gathering her bearings from her long restless sleep. Rory put her hand on her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
"Rory, look at me." Abbey reached for Rory's hand.
Rory reluctantly opened her eye to meet the glaring sun, burning her eyes, which caused her to moan. "What time is it?"
Abbey looked down at her watch, "seven ten."
Hearing this, Rory shot up out of her bed, while screaming, "what!" She sprinted to the bathroom and got ready for her first class as quick as humanly possible.
Abbey waited for Rory, and twenty minutes later, Rory appeared out of their room. Rory was all ready to go, but something still seemed missing. Abbey noticed something was wrong with Rory.
"Anything up, Rory?" Abbey asked as they walked out to their first classes.
Rory glanced over at her, then shrugged, "no, why?"
Abbey shrugged also. She was not satisfied with Rory's answer, but if she didn't tell her right away, there had ought to be an explanation as to why, and Abbey didn't want to press her for details. Well, at least not right away. "Just wondering, that's all." She replied nonchalant. "Okay, so.., I'm gonna turn now," Abbey said while pointing to the direction of her class, "cause that's where my class is… unless you wanted to tell me anything?"
Rory crinkled her eyebrows, finding her friend's behavior a tad strange. "Uh, no. Not that I can recall."
"Oh, okay then." Abbey reluctantly turned towards her class.
Once she was gone, Rory let out a deep sigh.
She didn't realize how hard it was to keep her cool.
LKLKLKLKLKLKLKLK
Rory walked out of her last class and her phone immediately started ringing deep inside her backpack. Rory mumbled, "oh, shoot," and stopped on the side of the path to set her backpack down and reached to get her phone. "Hello?" She answered.
"Rory!"
"Hey Lane!"
"I miss you already! And I just saw you this weekend! How pathetic is that!" Lane squealed into the phone.
"Hey, I'm right there with you. All I can think about is you and Stars Hollow and how much I love it and miss everyone." Rory confessed
"Wow, that is quite a bold statement Ms. Gilmore! Most kids can't wait to get away from all the slightly insane people we like to call our townsfolk." Lane said.
"Yes, well I am quite the daredevil these days." Rory responded.
"Wow! I had no idea!" Lane laughed. "So anyways, I have some news."
"Ooh! Is it juicy? I'm dying to hear about something other than Martin Luther's 95 Theses," Rory said.
"Well who wouldn't. Anyways, you know that the firelight festival is this Saturday, right?"
"Ooh the Firelight Festival! I can't believe I'm missing that! I bet it'll take at least an hour before they light the bonfire this year, although last year they were pretty quick," exclaimed Rory.
"Yeah, but then Taylor and Kirk got in a fistfight," Lane said.
"A wonderful addition. It was very entertaining," Rory added.
"Well anyways, it turns out that Henry will be there as well. He wants to see the madness for himself."
"That's great Lane."
"Yeah, I figure that I'll be able to sneak away while my mother scolds Miss Patty about serving her Founder's Party Punch. We won't have a lot of time, but we might be able to grab some star-shaped hot dogs," Lane explained.
"Ahh, sounds like true love!"
"Yeah! Well I have to go. My mom wants me to help her pack up some furniture."
"Okay," said Rory, disappointed.
"Bye Rory."
Rory wanted to say bye back, but the word did not want to come out. After a few seconds of struggling, it finally spilled out of her. "Bye Lane."
Rory started to head back when she tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. From behind she heard, "Smooth, Gilmore!" then saw Abbey running up next to her, laughing all the way.
"Well I'm glad someone thinks that my public humiliation is entertaining," Rory responded dryly.
"That's what I'm here for," said Abbey. "So, do you wanna tell me who you were talking to?"
"Nope, but I do want to grab some food. You hungry?"
"Yeah, let's go."
RGLKRGLKRGLKRGLK
"I enjoyed reading some of your papers, but most greatly disappointed me," said Rory's English teacher, as he handed out their latest papers on Tolstoy.
Rory anxiously waited to get her paper back. She was unsure of how well she did this time. Most of the time, she was confident in her work, but she knew that this assignment was particularly difficult. Rory had a hard time focusing on her work for the past week. She was constantly distracted by other thoughts and daydreams about anything other than Tolstoy. After a few minutes, her teacher weaved his way through rows of desks to Rory's. As she took the paper, she immediately noticed a big red D with a circle around it. Rory was disappointed, but not necessarily surprised. She just regretted not working as hard as she usually does.
After class, Rory's friend, Bailey met up with her. Rory though she was one of the few normal people at school, along with Abbey. "So how'd you do?" she asked, referring to their English papers.
"Not good," Rory responded, showing Bailey her paper.
"Well, what'd he say?"
"That my paper's thoughts and ideas were 'restricted' and the creativity was 'limited.'"
"That doesn't sound like you at all," said Bailey.
"Yeah, I've just been stuck for awhile," said Rory. "I think I'm still not used to this whole living far away from home thing yet."
"Trust me, everyone goes through that stage. It's not easy when the people you love are far away and you're stuck here. Just remember, it won't always be like this, and you'll find reasons to love it here, like me, for example," explained Bailey.
"Hmm, someone thinks highly of themselves," said Rory.
"What can I say?" Bailey said while she shrugged her shoulders. "Hey listen, I've got to go to history now, but I'll call you later?"
"Okay!"
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
The week, Rory got a call from Lane saying her mom finally allowed her to come to New York to visit her this weekend. Rory couldn't wait to show her around. By history class, Rory's last class of the day, on Friday, she couldn't wait to get out knowing Lane would be there soon. Every five minutes she would look at the clock, only to watch the minute hand slowly click by, until her final class was done.
Rory walked out to the main entrance of the school campus where she told Lane to meet her, and when she finally saw her standing near the open gates she ran up and gave her a big hug. "I'm so glad you're here!" she squealed.
"Me too!' Lane said, laughing.
"There are so many things I want to show you!"
"There are so many things I want to tell you!" Lane replied.
"Okay, but first let me show you my dorm and then we'll grab some dinner."
"Sounds great!" Lane said as the both started to walk away, chatting about the latest Stars Hollow gossip and Lane's night at the Firelight Festival.
RGRGRGRGRGRGRG
Before the girls knew it, the weekend was over and Lane had to go back home. "Are you going to be alright in this big scary school?" Lane asked while waiting for her mother to pick her up.
"Lane I've been going here for awhile now, I think I'll be okay," Rory reassured her.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll miss you."
"Me
too, but I'll come out to visit soon."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Lane smiled, "Okay." She hugged her friend one more time and then hopped into her mother's car. As soon as she started to pull away, both friends smiled and waved goodbye until the car vanished around a corner.
Rory sighed as her smile faded from her face and she slowly turned to walk back to her dorm. But before she could get there, a familiar voice called out her name. Rory turned around and noticed Dean standing next to a tree, close to where she had just watched Lane leave. Rory walked up to him, a little confused to see him, but she was happy and a little nervous anyways. "Hi," she said, somewhat timidly.
"Hey," he smiled.
"What are you doing here?"
Dean stuck his hands in his pockets. "Uhm, I just wanted to see what your school is really like in person. And, I guess, I kind of missed seeing you," he answered
Rory really liked Dean. They had been calling each other at least once a week ever since she moved here. With every phone call, they grew closer and seeing him here today, Rory realized that she wanted to be his girlfriend. They had only been on three dates before, but something inside her was telling her to go for it. It was a strange feeling because normally she was never the kind of person to take such huge leaps like the one she was thinking about. However, something just felt right to her and she guessed that some of Abbey's impulsiveness had worn off on her. "I have a little confession to make as well," she started. "I really like you."
"Yeah, me too. I mean, I really like you too," Dean said.
"Sooo, what does that mean? Are we now boyfriend and girlfriend?" Rory said as she played with her sleeve.
"Yeah, I think it does, only if you want to be."
"I wanna be," Rory said as her cheeks flushed red.
"Me too," Dean smiled, a little embarrassed himself, but then grabbed her hand to hold.
She smiled up at him and he did the same. They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds until Dean slowly bent down to kiss her softly.
Rory was shocked at first, but then relaxed. But it ended as quickly as it started, so Rory wrapped her arms around Dean for a hug.
"Uhm, I actually have to get back home soon, cause I have school and everything tomorrow," said Dean.
Rory pulled back, "Oh, right."
"But I'll call you tomorrow."
Rory smiled, "Okay."
Dean smiled also, "Okay." He waved bye and then hopped into his car. Rory waved goodbye as well, but when he finally drove away, she wasn't as sad as she was earlier. For Rory, it was an amazing weekend.