Crooked Smile

Chapter 3 – Boyfriend Culling

The rest of the weekend went by uneventful: particularly as Rory was avoiding Jess at all costs. It was time for Jess to start is ascent into the pubescent oblivion known as High school. It wasn't as though Jess struggled with the work; in fact most of it was too easy. That was the main problem. It bored him. He was never going to be able to afford college, and with his permanent record no school in their right mind would accept him. So, he just couldn't see the point in wasting his time. But to Luke it seemed like a pretty big deal. He might as well give it a go. He finished getting dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. At least that smelt nice; the only upside to this sure to be nauseating day.

As he descended the staircase, Rory entered the living room, dressed in her Chilton uniform. He stopped, stunned.

"Whoa." Rory looked up surprised at his presence.

"What?" she asked, still slightly uncomfortable, after avoiding him all weekend. "Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah, err, just a little dizzy, I didn't get much sleep last night." God, she wore that everyday. He briefly remembered her mentioning that she went to private school, but for some reason he hadn't made the connection between that and girl in really hot outfit!

He was still standing on the staircase when she bent down to put some books in her bag, he then snapped back into life and went to the kitchen for some breakfast before he needed to take yet, another, cold shower.

Thirty minutes later, he was out of the house, heading to school with his uncle Luke by his side.

"You don't have to walk me to school, yah no, I'm not nine."

"Look, you have to meet the principle today and a parent or guardian has to be there with you so you can enrol."

"Well, I guess asking a parent to be there is just that bit too much, right?"

"Look, Jess, you know your mom thinks that you being here is what's best for you. I know she can be pretty flaky at times, but you know that she does her best. Come on," he said as they entered a large, well kept, red brick building, "the principles' office is this way." And they headed, straight down the main hallway. Jess remained silent, mulling over what Luke had said about his mom and her always trying her best. Well, if what she's been doing for the past seventeen years is her best then he was as sure as hell glad to get away from her before she started doing her worst.

When they finally got to the Principle's office, he began to take in his surroundings. It was still rather early, so there were very few other students around. But those that were there, seemed to find him oddly curious. Every single one of them was staring at him. God, have they never had a new student here before? He turned away from them and followed Luke inside the office. Once they were inside a ninety-year-old secretary met them, and then they were told to sit and wait until the principle was ready to see them. They sat in silence for about five minutes until Luke could take it no more.

"This place isn't really so bad, once you get used to it."

"Huh."

"Yep." Like sighed, he could already see that Jess was not going to make this easy. Just then a red bulb on Mrs Wheeler's desk lit up.

"Mr Merton, will see you now." With that they got up and went to see the principle. When they entered Jess was faced with a middle aged black man, with glasses and a moustache, looking at them severely over the top of and open folder.

"Hello Mr Danes, and Jess – I believe?" Jess nodded quickly, eager to get this meeting over with. "Well please sit down won't you? Now Jess, I've read your transcripts that your school in New York sent over. I have to tell you that it took me practically the whole weekend to get through it. It appears as if you were quite a notorious figure at your last school, Mr Mariano." Jess said nothing, but he could feel Luke's eyes continuously flickering towards him, and it made him shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Now, from what I've gathered your home life hasn't exactly been the most stable, but hopefully that's about to change. I will impress it upon you to take advantage of your new situation and make a fresh start. Perhaps finally live up to your potential. But I must warn you; I will not tolerate any shenanigans, from you or anyone else at Stars Hollow High. Is that understood?"

"Yes." Jess muttered grudgingly.

"Yes, Mr-?"

"Yes. Mr MURTON."

"Very good. Well, if you go and see Miss Aubrey at the front desk, she will give you your class timetable and a map of the school, along with the school code of conduct. I suggest you memorize that Jess, we don't want you getting in to trouble now, do we?" Jess for the urge to snort. Get in trouble? Did this bozo really read that file? "Good day to you both."

-Later at the end of the school day back at the crap shack. -

Thank god this day was over, Jess groaned as he crashed out on his bed. He'd been leered at, ogled, threatened and hit on. Not that he really minded the last part, but most of these girls didn't seem to have five brain cells between them, he could only spend so much time pretending to be interested in what Muffin or Cissy did in gym class, in the hopes of it leading to sex. Maybe later in the week: when he wasn't so pissed off at the world around. Actually, better make that the end of the month.

Argh, he couldn't stand being cooped up in his room one more day. He decided to go for a walk, and clear his head before Luke and Lorelai came home and started bombarding him with questions again. He wondered for about twenty minutes, until he came across and old, rickety plank bridge, not far from the high school. But as everyone had already gone home, it was now quiet and peaceful. He sat down and took in his surroundings. It was a smallish lake, surrounded by trees and with the odd duck and swan floating by. In a way it reminded him of some of the parks in New York, without the sounds of police cars zooming by. He had to admit, peace and quiet was something rarely found in New York.

He sighed and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, lighting what was probably his tenth one of the day. Smoking them was about all that kept him from punching out one of the kids from his new school today. God! What a bunch of freaks! He really couldn't get over this place. Every single desk was pristine, nobody cut in line in the cafeteria, and they all followed the dress code to a tee and said the pledge of allegiance in six different languages. Two of which he'd never heard of before.

He shook his head and took another drag of his cigarette, allowing his mind to wander. Finally, his mind landed on Rory, once again. (And that wonderful little uniform of hers.) He never met anyone quite like her before, someone so smart and beautiful. Her eyes were a blue like he'd never seen, and her smile was so sweet and innocent, and she blushed so easily, and her breasts – well you know what he thought of her breasts. But, ultimately, he knew thinking about her and wanting her couldn't come to anything: at least not anything good.

Rory was the type of girl that needed to be treated like a princess, something that he knew he really wasn't capable of. Jess's past relationships read more like notch after notch on his bedpost. A string of one-night stands and the occasional weeklong flings. The closest he had ever had to a girlfriend was Connie. And there he was stretching the term to its limit. Connie, god where was she now? Was she okay? Was Jacob still with her? No! No, no, no! He wasn't going to allow himself to think about them. He couldn't think about them? It hurt too much.

Rory got off of the bus, home from a day's toil at Chilton. The work hadn't been the problem, not even Paris. It was because that today, right now in fact, was the time to break things off with Dean. Dean was, in most respects a great boyfriend, if a little too possessive at times. He just wasn't the right boy for her. She new that, and it was time that he knew that they had no future. She had to break it off before things got too out of control.

She had tried to think of how to go about it for days. What she needed to say. How could she not to hurt his feelings too much? But whenever she tried to focus, her mind would stray and begin to linger on her new housemate. He truly was a mysterious one. She new she shouldn't think about it but every now and then, his wet glistening chest would creep into her thoughts. There was no denying it. And a tiny part of her couldn't help but want to be free of Dean so that she could fool around with Jess. WAIT! NO! NO! NO! She didn't mean that! And quickly tried to shake that thought from her mind. She wasn't a fool around kind of girl.

'But that's what you did with Tristan –when you were still with Dean!' said a little voice inside her head. She shuddered at the thought. Nobody needed to know about that. She'd just let her hormones take over for a short while. She simply lost her head for a bit.

'Yeah, and you hope to lose more than that with Jess living with you! – STOP IT!' she told herself again. But she barely had the time to reprimand herself as she saw Dean fast approaching her. She needed to focus on the task at hand. It was now or never.

Jess finally decided that it was time to head home. The rumbling of his stomach reminded him of how he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Stars Hollow High cuisine wasn't quite up to his standards; and his were pretty low. He was sure he had seen something similar being served up in an old prison movie – either that or some dumpster in New York. Whichever it was, he hadn't been brave enough to try it.

.

As he came onto the main street, he spotted Rory. She was sitting on the bench next to the bus stop. He was trying to decide whether or not to go over and speak to her. But before he had made up his mind, some floppy haired giant came over to her, and kissed her on the lips. Huh. He didn't know she had a boyfriend. Couldn't she do better than that! He looked like Dracula's nephew. Maybe he had best talk to her later.

Lorelai and Luke both came home around seven, but Rory still wasn't home. He soon discovered that this was very odd. "Jess, has Rory been home yet today?" she asked him, as he was laid on the sofa, watching television.

"Not that I know of."

"She hasn't been home at all? Oh, God what if she missed her bus, and there wasn't another one. She may not have cell coverage – OH GOD, she might have had to go to my mother's house, if she was stuck there!"

"Lorelai calm down!" said Luke, desperately trying to calm down his wife. "She's been late home before. She could have gone to see Lane or Dean and just lost track of time." Dean? The boys suddenly made Jess's ears perk up. Dean was that the guy she was with earlier. Desperate for more information, he suddenly decided to speak up.

"Well, she definitely didn't miss her bus. I saw her at the bus stop when I was walking through town, she was talking to some tall, floppy haired guy." Lorelai suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh good, she's with Dean. Well, I'll give her ten more minutes before I call her." As she said this, there was the sound of fumbling keys opening the front door. It then opened, and a rather distressed looking Rory stepped inside.

Rory sat in the same spot for almost four hours. She'd done it. Her first relationship was finally over. It was strange really; she thought that she would feel this overpowering sense of guilt. And she did feel guilty for leading him so long, but that was nothing to sheer sensation of relief. He had been upset at first but she could tell that he had been expecting it for sometime. It hadn't taken very long, twenty minutes at the most, yet she was still sat in the same spot. She couldn't move. Her mind was reeling. What was she supposed to do now? A part of her felt as if she should be jumping for joy but another part felt as if she should be sobbing. Unable to decide, she just sat there. She watched as passers by carried out their daily lives. Picking kids up from school, coming home from work, shopping, and getting dinner; never before had the quaint small town she loved so dearly felt so busy before. And then suddenly she could move.

It was dark before she got home, she couldn't believe just how long she had been sat at the bus stop, and she wasn't sure how to explain where she had been. She reached the porch braced her self and stepped in.

"RORY! Oh, good, thank god your home." Cried Lorelai and instantly grabbed her and pulled her tightly into her arms. Luke signalled to Jess to move into the Kitchen and allow the two to talk alone. Jess got the impression that it was a good thing to be out of the way when a barney between the Gilmore Girls occurs. Otherwise there may be casualties.

"Can't breath Mom."

"Oh, sorry. Right now you can breath would you please explain to me where you were until this hour? I've been worried sick!"

"This hour? Mom, it's barely past seven and this is Stars Hollow. The most dangerous thing that could happen is coming across Kirk in a mime outfit!"

"Mime outfit?"

"Or something equally weird! Look Mom, I'm tired I just wanna go to bed."

"I thought you just said it was barely past seven."

"Yah, well it's been a long rotten day."

"Luke made dinner."

"I'll warm it up later."

"Hey listen, crabby lady, Luke's lasagne cures everything; there even considering giving him a Nobel Prize and a Michelin Star rolled in one. A bunch of science geeks and snooty French chiefs are practically lining up outside the door to worship him." desperately trying to lighten the mood.

"MOM! I know you live in your own semi-detached world half the time but a lump of lasagne and witty banter does not cure everything! You don't know what sort of a day I have had!"

"Ok." Lorelai suddenly became very cautious, knowing it was better to tread lightly when her daughter was in such a mood. She was too much like herself in that respect. "Tell me what sort of a day you've had!"

"Oh, so now you wanna talk to me? For these past few month it's been almost as if I haven't existed!"

"That is not true!"

"Yes it is! And I don't know why it is, but that how things are now! You have a new life and I don't fit."

"Of course you fit! You're the centre piece, the main event, what everything is essentially built around!"

"Well, I don't feel that right now."

"Well, honey talk to me. You've been so distant lately I just thought you needed your space. Tell me how do you feel?"

"Right now, I feel tired."

"Well, okay go to bed but we'll talk in the morning."

"Fine. Night,"

"Night, honey," and she turned back to the living room, not wanting to bother her daughter further.

Later in the evening, Jess still remained on the couch pretending to read, even after Luke and Lorelai had gone up. Instead of heading up to his room, as soon as he was free after dinner, he waited silently for Rory to once again exit her room. He was convinced she would have to come out of her room sooner or later, she hadn't eaten anything all evening and from what he'd seen, the Gilmore girls didn't do too well unless they ate every hour or so. Also, he was curious. So curious he was almost embarrassed to admit it to himself; it was almost as if he was a thirteen year old with a crush. He wanted to know where she was tonight, whom that guy was that she had been with at the bus stop, and why she had consisted to lock herself in her room when she finally came home?

He looked at the clock, 11:45. He sighed there was no way that she was going to come out now, he should probably go to bed; especially if he had to face the glories of Stars Hollow high the next morning. He stood up and threw his book onto the coffee table. He then walked into the kitchen for a glass of water, as he reached the cupboard, he heard the creak of a door behind him and whipped around. There stood Rory.

Rory and Jess were somehow, once again, alone, in the kitchen in the middle of the night. She was still half dressed in her Chilton uniform, after simply passing out on her bed as soon as she got home. She tried desperately to forget the events that had passed throughout the awful day. Her sleep had been unsuccessful in that respect; Jess wasn't. He appeared before her, bare-chested and simply glowing in the moonlight. God, he was beautiful. She was unable to stop her eyes from roaming all over his body: it was dark, so he couldn't see her blush.

Unbeknownst to Rory, Jess was having a similar problem; there was just something about her in THAT uniform! He wished he wasn't such a guy at times, but everybody had his or her own fantasies, right? Her hair was a mess, and her shirt was un-tucked and crumpled, and her legs and feet were bare from discarding her navy tights earlier in the evening. Everything about the way she looked was challenging him to touch her. It was this thought that finally shook him back into reality, and ended the age long silence.

"Hey. So, you're up!"

"Err, yeah. I'm sorry, if I acted a little weird I just had a pretty rough day." She shifted uncomfortably on the spot.

"Err, are you hungry?" Rory smiled.

"A little, I haven't really eaten all day."

"Really? Wow, you really have had a rough day!"

"What?"

"Well, nothing, it's just I've been hear long enough to realise that you Gilmore Girls don't really do well when your hungry. Did you contemplate that if you'd eaten your day would have gone better?"

"Huh, very astute observation. And as much as I wanted to eat, I just felt a little sick and it put me off."

"You're not pregnant are you?"

"WHAT? NO!"

"Sorry, it's common question at my previous school; particularly when a girl says she been being sick."

"Yeah, well, trust me, I'm not pregnant. If I was I could start a new religion."

"Ah." He nodded. So she was a virgin. It's not that he found that fact so surprising, but when he saw that guy mauling her at the bus stop, he began to have doubts. "So, what do you want to eat?"

"Err, I think I'll just have some coffee. I can get it."

"K," he watched her as she moved towards the cupboard to get herself a mug, and how her delicate cream thighs were revealed as she stretched out to reach one down. The back of her shirt was crumpled and her hair was a mess. It was clear that she'd been having a rough night's sleep. "So, rough day, huh?"

"Erm, you could say that."

"Do you mind if I ask what-"

"I broke up with my boyfriend of over a year."

"That guy you were with at the bus stop?" Rory looked up at him stunned.

"You were watching us?"

"Well, I couldn't really help it. The last time I saw something like that it was on the nature channel. I thought he was trying to eat you at one point."

"Do you get off on trying to be a rude pompous jackass, or does it just come naturally to you?"

"Naturally. But seriously, you didn't really look as if you were about to break up."

"Yeah, well he sort of grabbed me before I could- why am I telling you this?"

"Beats me I'm not encouraging it?" He smirked at her as she moved to pour her coffee. "Anyway, it's over."

"Why?"

"Are you always this nosey?"

"Well, I'm living in a small town now, so I figure I'll need to know some of the gossip to fit in." He smirked at her again. "But seriously you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Rory was silent for a minute. She could delve in to the usual lines of "He was such a great guy but I just want to be alone right now," or "We'd really just grown apart." Instead she decided to opt for the plain and simple truth.

"I was bored."

"Bored?"

"Yes. That's all. We'd been together for over a year and now I'm bored, so I dumped him."

"Well, that sounds-"

"Bitchy?"

"No. Reasonable. You're seventeen why be stuck with someone that you don't really enjoy being with? You shouldn't be doing that until you're a single mother in your thirties, who's been married and divorced more times than Elizabeth Taylor and never held down a half-decent job for longer than eight months." Rory stared at him for a minute.

"Well, that's quite a vision for my life you've got there. We've known each other, for what, a week now? My company hasn't been all that bad has it?"

"I must be deflecting. It's what I've been living with for the past seventeen years. Except she hasn't always been in her thirties." Rory stood their silently for a minute, not entirly sure of what she should say. "Don't worry, she often left me speechless too." Rory nodded.

"Well, I think I'm just gonna go back to bed. I have a Latin test tomorrow."

"Latin? Now, there's something you'll use all the time." She chuckled at him. He really was very different.

"Goodnight Jess." And she turned back to her room.

"Hey, Rory."

"If this is another perverted comment, I would much rather you keep it to yourself." She replied quickly, remembering the previous night.

"Not perverted. Not yet anyway." He smirked, and she turned away again. "I just wanted to say, that I'm really glad that you don't have a boyfriend. It'll make my dreams tonight much less awkward."