Lorelai and Rory were walking down the street in Star Hollow playing the alphabet game with diseases to see who would have to clean out the fridge. Anna was walking a little ahead of them, seeing that she was the one to do it last time. "Puppies," She screamed and ran across the street, nearly getting hit by a car. Lorelai screams in excitement also and ran after her. The animal shelter was having their once a month adoption day at the park.
"Hi! Oh hi! Hi! Ooh! Look at the baby!" Lorelai ran up to a small dog in a crate.
"Mom," Rory warns her.
"Aw, Buttercup was found cold and wet hovering under a hydrangea bush along highway 26. That's a sad highway." Anna read the paper on her crate.
"Compared to all the other happy highways she could've been abandoned by." Rory sighs, knowing she would have to talk them out of getting this dog.
"Her lineage includes cocker spaniel, golden retriever, Bouvier des Flandres..." Lorelai read.
"Gesundheith," Rory corrects her.
"Thank you and Rottweiler." She finished reading.
"Buttercup is a special dog. She's extremely skittish and tends to react badly towards blonde-haired females, brunette males, children, other animals, red clothing, cabbage, or anyone in a uniform." Rory read the rest of her bio.
"I can change out of my uniform before coming into the house." Anna reasoned.
Luke walks up to them. "Hey, we just found the doggy version of you." Lorelai points to the dog.
"Can I help you?" A volunteer walks up to them.
"Do not let these three anywhere near a dog. They can barely feed themselves." Luke told the man.
"That is a lie. We'd be excellent pet owners." Anna defends them.
"You cannot be serious." Rory sighs. The volunteer walks away, not wanting to be part of this debate.
"We would be. We could get him a pretty bowl…" Lorelai adds on.
"It's her," Anna reminds her mom.
"...and a new name…" She said.
"Mom," Rory sighs again.
"...cause this Buttercup thing has got to go." She shook her head.
"Do I need to remind you of Skippy?" Rory said.
"Skippy?" Luke asks.
"Skippy." Anna put her head down in remembrance.
"I can't believe you would bring up Skippy." Lorelai gasps.
"Skippy was our hamster," Rory told him.
"He doesn't care." Lorelai shook her head.
"What happened to Skippy?" He asked.
"Nothing happened to Skippy." Lorelai lied.
"Every time mom would put her hand in his cage, he'd bit her," Rory told him.
"And laugh," Lorelai adds on.
"Hamsters can't laugh," Luke told her.
"Oh, this one laughed, trust me." She looks annoyed by the hamster they had years ago.
"So finally she got fed up." Rory continued the story.
"Of being laughed at by a hamster?" Luke wanted to make sure he heard that right.
"Well yeah," Lorelai said like she was in the right.
"So she stopped cleaning its cage. Instead, every day she would stuff some Kleenex in there." Rory explains.
"She wouldn't let either of us clean it because she said she had to teach him a lesson," Anna told him how Rory and she were helpless in the situation.
"You didn't?" Luke looks over at his friend.
"It was the quilted kind." She said with a small smile.
"So this keeps going on and soon the cage is just a cage full of Kleenex that moves a little, and smells good." Rory went on with the story.
"I can imagine." Luke kept his judgmental eyes on Lorelai.
"Oh no, you can't." She chuckled as she shook her head.
"So then she takes the cage to the place where we bought him, waits for the sales guy to go behind the desk and dumps it on the counter then bolts." Anna glares at her mother for giving away their pet.
"You abandoned your hamster." Luke narrows his eyes at her.
"Look, I know it was bad, but this was a vicious hamster. This was like a Damien hamster with little beady eyes and a big forked tail and... a cape with a...hood...and bye bye Buttercup. Bye Luke." Lorelai gave up by the end of the explanation.
"You did the right thing." Rory grabbed her mother's arm to pull her away.
Anna sighed, giving Buttercup a sad look before following her family. "I want a pet." Anna and Lorelai whines.
"You have me." Rory points to herself.
"You won't play fetch with me." Anna scoffs.
"I might if you ever played outside." She rolled her eyes.
"Will you wear a collar?" Lorelai teases.
"No." She looks at her mom like she was crazy.
"It'll be pink!" She reasoned.
"You're sick." She turned her head away.
"Hey, watch how you talk to me. Remember what happened to Skippy." She threatens.
"Maybe, if mom doesn't pick the dog we'll be fine." Anna tried to negotiate. Her mom is the one who could never seem to be able to get along with other species.
"No, mom's bad mojo is still in the house. You'll just have to wait until you move out to get a dog." Rory shook her head.
"Well, then that's settled. On my 18 birthday, I'm moving out." Anna teases.
"What, no! Don't leave me." Lorelai clings to her arm.
Richard was still in the hospital, meaning that it was only the girls that Friday night. "How's the squab?" Emily asks.
"It's good." Anna and Rory nod.
"Lorelai?" She turns to her daughter.
"It's the best tiny, weird bird I have ever eaten." She told her.
"I'm glad." She gave her a big smile.
"Why are you smiling like that?" She narrowed her eyes at her.
"What are you talking about?" She tilts her head.
"You're smiling." Lorelai points her fork at her.
"I'm happy." She shrugs, still smiling. Anna looked at her grandma to see there was a hint of mischief in her smile. It wasn't outrightly wicked as Anna's smile when she up to something, Emily's was more subtle. One wouldn't realize that something was wrong with that smile until after they were caught in the trap. Being that Lorelai was probably caught in that trap many times before, she knew that smile.
"That's not your 'I'm happy' smile." She shook her head.
"Well, what smile is it, Lorelai?" She asks since she was acting all-knowing.
"That's your 'I've got something on Lorelai' smile." She smiles back at her, happy to be ahead of the curve.
"Your mother must be very tired." Emily looked at her grandchildren.
"She works a lot," Rory told her.
"I grew up with that smile. I know that smile." Lorelai push on.
"Tell me about school." Emily didn't give her any attention.
"Well, my French final went pretty well," Rory told her.
"I had to cut open a frog. I partner up with a dumb kid because he said he would do all the cutting and I would just have to do the report. But, he ended up backing out. So I had to do both. I wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, which is good news because I'll probably have to clean out a lot of dead animals when I get into culinary school." Anna put another piece of squab into her mouth. Emily blinks at her not sure of what to say to that.
"You can change the subject, but I know the smile." Lorelai brought it back to her mother's smile.
"Whatever you say, dear," Emily gave her a look before turning back to them.
"I've used it a few times myself." Lorelai looks over at her children as well.
"Mom," Rory warns that she was going to end up ruining a good dinner.
"So tell me about parent's day?" Emily asks them.
"What?" Lorelai asks.
"Parent's day? Next Wednesday? When all the parents are supposed to go to the classes with their children all day long," Emily told her.
"The Chilton newsletter came out today!" She cheered, happy to find the reason behind her mother's smile.
"You didn't read yours?" Emily smiles that smile.
"Not yet." Lorelai shook her head.
"Ah." She let out a noise as she checkmated her.
"But you knew that…" Lorelai waves a hand in her direction.
"Well," She shrugs.
"Hence the smile," She pointed at her face.
"Lorelai, you're being silly. There's no evil plan afoot here. I simply brought up a subject I thought we could all talk about." Emily proclaims her innocent.
"Oh right." She said, not convinced at all.
"I'll try another subject. The color blue is very pleasant, isn't it?" Emily said the first thing that came to mind.
"Mom, not everybody can wait outside the mailbox for the Chilton newsletter to arrive and then instantly memorize the contents in three seconds." Lorelai put her fork down to yell. Emily gave her that smile that was looking more mischievous by the second.
"I'd like to weigh in on the blue color subject, please." Rory didn't want to sit through another rant in the car about her grandmother.
"You have your priorities far be it from me to question them." Emily looks down at her plate.
"Just because I don't read the newsletter doesn't mean I don't care about my daughters." Lorelai points at them.
"So, are you going?" Emily asks.
"To what," Lorelai looks over at her.
"To parent's day!" Emily gave her an, are you stupid expression.
"Why don't we talk about it next Friday when I've read the newsletter? I guarantee it'll be more fun." Lorelai wasn't planning to go.
"We could, except the fact that the parent's day is next Wednesday," Emily told her.
"Wednesday?" Lorelai thought of what excuse she could give.
"If we talked about it on Friday then you would've missed it," Emily said.
"Wednesday, huh?" Lorelai looks over at her daughters
"Its ok mom, you don't have to be there," Rory told her.
"Yeah, it's stupid anyway. Why would you want to sit through boring classes? Although in biology, we are going to dissect a fetal pig. So, that should be interesting." Anna personally thought going from a frog to a pig was extreme. Lorelai made a face saying that was more reason not to go.
"I guess we can talk about how you missed it." Emily shrugs, letting them know what next week would be about.
"I won't miss it." Lorelai would rather sit through boring classes and a pig dissection than her mother criticizing her for being a bad mother.
"Mom it's not a big deal, you're busy." Rory didn't want her to use one of her vacation days for this.
"You know what, I'll go!" Emily perks up. Anna looked at her wondering if that was her plan all along.
"What?" Lorelai snaps.
"Why not? You have to work. I, as you have insinuated, have no life, therefore I will go sit with Rory and Anna at parent's day." She points to herself proudly.
"I'm not busy, I'm going. I will be there, that's it. End of story, ok?" Lorelai was still that sixteen-year-old girl that she feared that her mother wanted to take over her parental duties.
"Fine," Emily sighs.
"Fine," Lorelai needs to have the last word.
"So, did you read on page two about the mother/daughter talent show?" Emily asks. Lorelai chokes on her food.
"You okay?" Rory smiled. Anna put her hand over her mouth to fail at stopping her giggles. The sibling knew that there was no talent show. Their grandma was just messing with their mom.
"So, why did you text me 911, pick me up at 7:30." Tristan pulls out of the Gilmore's driveway.
"My mom is going on a date with Mr. Medina at 8." She told him.
"What?" He swirls a little at that news.
"Watch the road." She hit him in the shoulder. "You can't tell anyone. Rory didn't even want you to know." She gave him a stern glare.
"Who would I tell?" He shrugs.
"I don't know your gossiping boyfriends." She teases.
"My friend and I don't gossip, girls gossip." He scoffs.
"Oh please, all you guys talk about lately is the Geller family falling apart." She rolled her eyes.
"You enjoy that more than anyone." He reminds her.
"Yes, but I'm a girl." She shrugs. They pull into a restaurant she has never been to before. "What is this? What does it say?" She looked up at the sign that she couldn't read because it was in another language.
"You're taking French, you should know." He got out of the car.
"Well, excuse me for not being fluent." She got out and followed him into the restaurant.
Rory and Anna were sitting at the counter in Luke's. Sookie and Jackson came in, arguing about using Jackson's new vegetable. When Sookie wouldn't budge, he walks out. She took the stool next to Anna. "Jackson invented a new vegetable again?" Rory asks.
"Yup," She nods.
"A zucchini tush," Anna giggles at the name.
"Yup," She sighs.
"It's too bad that the bowling league didn't work out for him," Rory said.
"Yeah," Sookie took a sip of Anna's coffee.
"Hey, look I found them." Lorelai came into the diner with two pairs of skates over her shoulders.
"Where?" Rory asks.
"They were in that drawer with the roasting pans," Lorelai said, still not knowing how they got there.
"Cool." Rory cheers.
"Oh, skates!" Sookie finally saws what they were.
"Rory and I have a skating date," Lorelai told her.
"What about you?" Sookie looked over at the third musketeer.
"I gave mine away at last year's rummage sale. I could never stand in them anyways." She told her.
"I'm Nancy Kerrigan," Rory told Sookie.
"And I'm Tonya Harding. I'm going to do the whole shoelace coming untied, nervous break, let me start again act and everything." Lorelai gave the plan, play by play.
Luke came over and rained on her parade. "When was the last time you put those things on?"
"Oh, you are constantly trying to ruin my fun." She pouts.
"Do they even fit anymore?" He squinted at the skates.
"Yes, they fit." She held them close to her chest like he was going to take them away.
"They look rusted," Luke told her.
"Well...can I just have some coffee please?" She wanted him to go away.
Luke sighs, seeing that he wasn't going to be able to talk her out of skating. "Hand them over."
"Why?" She put them out of his reach.
"I'm going to clean them and tighten the blades." He let out a huff.
"Really!?" She perks up.
"Yes." He groans.
"Can you make them shiny?" She pleads.
"The skates please," He held out his hand.
"Maybe add a couple of pompoms." She suggested.
"Just hand them over." He told her sternly.
"Thank you!" She gave them to him before he took his offer off the table. He took them in the back.
"You get really good service here," Sookie said. Luke only ever yelled at her.
"Yeah, I do." She nods.
Sookie pager went off making her get up, "Got to go."
"Anything wrong?" Lorelai asks.
"Too much yeast, too little bowl," She told her.
"Enough said." She waves her off, knowing she wouldn't understand any of it.
"My breaks over," Anna got up and went back into the kitchen.
Anna was standing by her locker with Tristan and his friend. "You know I heard that Paris's dad got a second family in Paris."
"Whoa." His friend was amazed by the news.
"You turned into a gossip girl," Anna smirks. Tristan pinches her side, making her smack his hand. He went back to gossip with his friends. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rory talking to Mr. Medina. She turns to watch them talk. Rory had been getting close to their teacher, calling him by his first name. On the bus ride this morning, she suggested he come over to the next movie night. She was worried about Rory getting hurt if things didn't work out between him and their mom.
When Rory walked away, she saw her chance. "I have to talk to Mr. Medina." She walked over to the man. Tristan watched her walk away with that serious look on her face. He hoped she wasn't going to get herself in trouble. "Hello, Mr. Medina. I have a question about my grade, let's talk in the class." She walked into the classroom.
He closed the door behind them. "You're getting an A, but I have a feeling I know what's this is about, here to warn me about hurting your mom." Max knew she would be the more challenging of the two to get close to.
"No, if I was going to do that, I would have done it when I first found out about you two. This is about Rory." She leaned against his desk.
"Rory?" He raises an eyebrow.
"My mom is a grown woman who can make her own decision about who she lets in her life. But, Rory and I aren't. Rory is starting to get attached to you." She explains.
"That's a bad thing because…" He asks.
"You're reaching your two-month mark. No man has made it farther than that with my mom since I've been alive." Anna let him know.
"I can be the man who does." He shrugs with a laid back look on his face like there was no question that they were going to have a good long relationship.
"The problem is that it's not up to you." She pushes herself off his desk and walks over to the door. "If you do make it past the two-month mark, you'll wait until my mom pushes for our relationship to get closer. There is no reason children should be hurt." She left him with that last piece of advice before walking out.
Anna and Rory were in the kitchen doing their homework while their mom was she cleans out the fridge. If Lorelai was left alone she would either throw everything out or keep everything. "Four slices pepperoni pizza." She opens the pizza box.
"From?" Rory grabs a soda from the open fridge.
"Tuesday?" She answers.
"Last Tuesday? No, we had burrito last Tuesday. It can't be the Tuesday before that, because I remember eating the last slices of that pizza." Anna tried to think back to the last time they order pizza and had leftovers. "We need to start writing dates on these pizza boxes."
"The Tuesday in the not so distant past," Lorelai shrugs.
"Toss it." Rory made a face. "So you remember Paris Geller." She joins Anna on the small dining table.
"Your very best friend in the whole world," Lorelai picks up a takeout plate that had Chinese food in it that she couldn't remember ordering.
"Her parents are getting a major divorce," Rory told her.
"Really," She throws the take out plate away.
"Her dad is this big wig at a huge pharmaceutical company and they're printing all the sordid details about it in the paper," Rory explains.
"Ooh, how sordid?" She smelled another take out plate.
Rory thought for a second before answering. "Well, it's not the Rich James incident, but Hugh Grant should be feeling pretty good about himself."
"The rumors going around the school are very Rich James though. There's one going around that her mom got her whole backside done, which dumb because wouldn't you fix the front too." Anna shook her head. Each rumor was more ridiculous than the last. It was hard to believe that so-called elite students were not only coming up with them but believing them.
"If she was anyone else in the entire universe I might feel bad for her." Lorelai throws out another take out container.
"I kind of do feel bad for her," Rory admits, even though she knew the girl didn't deserve her sympathy.
"Really? Not even her friends feel bad for her. I'm pretty sure Louise made up that rumor about her dad having another family in Paris." Anna looks up from her English notes to say.
"Oh Rory, you're the nicest kid ever to walk the earth." Lorelai praises her oldest.
"The whole school's talking about it. And the weird thing is that the whole dynamics there has changed for me." Rory felt guilty that she was kind of benefiting for Paris's downfall.
"That because Paris is the one who made it social suicide to talk to you. Now that she's up in flames, people can get to know you." Anna scoffs. Sometimes Rory was too nice for her own good.
"How did the dynamics change?" Lorelai shoves yet another take out container in the trash.
"Well, Madeline and Louise, Paris's best friends, they said hello to me the other day," Rory told her.
Lorelai opens a container of fries she brought home from Luke's. "Really? Like a normal hello? Not like a 'Here's Johnny' kind of hello?" She spoke between fries.
"Normal, friendly, no acts," Rory got up to take a fry.
"Wow, you're the new Heather." Lorelai points a fry at her.
"I guess." Rory shrugs.
"Definitely," Anna got up to grab a fry.
Lorelai gasps as she pulls another pizza box from the fridge. "Oh, hey, this is the pizza from mystery Tuesday. That one's completely fine." She points to the box in the trash.
"No, it's not. We still don't know when it's from." Anna stands in front of the trash to stop her mom from getting it.
"It's in the box! It's still good!" Lorelai looks around her to see that none of the pizza fell out in the trash.
"Oscar!" She scolds her.
"Felix!" Lorelai shot back.
"Forget it!" Anna grabs the pizza box from her to also shove it in the trash.
"Fine," She pouts.
Rory sat back down at the table, "So how's Swann's Way coming." She asks her mom about the book she borrows from Mr. Medina.
"Oh finished." She shrugs. Anna narrowed her eyes at her as she sat down at the table in front of her notes. She took forever to read it. She probably would have never finished it if Rory wasn't constantly nagging her too. Rory likes discussing books with her sister because she always had a completely different perspective than she did.
"You're kidding! It took me forever to read that. I had to renew it 10 times." Rory gasp.
"The first sentence, I finished the first sentence." Lorelai clarified.
"Aha," The siblings let out, now that made more sense.
"Yeah, it's just I'm so swamped right now you know, it's the wrong time to start reading the longest book known to man. Hey, maybe you could give it back to Max for me?" She points at Anna, not wanting Rory to get any closer to him.
"Just bring it with you tomorrow." Anna shrugs.
"Tomorrow?" She wonders why she would see Max tomorrow.
"Parent's day?" Rory reminds her.
"I know I'm just, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make it," Lorelai told them.
"What do you mean?" Rory asks.
"Well, I have that thing at the inn and I thought I could get away and now I can't." She gave a vague response.
"What thing?" Anna didn't remember her mom mentioning an event taking place at the Inn.
"The thing…. the inn thing," Her mind was going blank.
"What Inn thing?" Rory asks.
"You know." Lorelai shrugs.
"No, I don't." They shook their head.
"The thing at the inn with the flags and the little men and the peanuts… the thing," She was pulling things out of her ass now.
"Little men?" Rory pushes her eyebrows to meet.
"Forget it, it's not important. I just don't think I can go." She closes the fridge.
"Ok, fine." Rory shrugs.
"So, if you could give this book back to Max tomorrow, that would be great." She tried to hand the book to Anna.
"Why don't you just give it back to him the next time you see him." She leans back in her chair.
"Because I'm not sure when that would be and he should have his book." Lorelai was letting her frustration slip through in her tone.
"Mom, if you're going to break up with him, do it yourself. Don't ask me to do it for you by giving his book back." Anna let her own frustration slip through.
"You're breaking up with him?" Rory looks up at her mother.
"What are you talking about?" Lorelai drops the book on the table.
"Well he hasn't heard from you and now you're asking Anna to give him the book back." Rory thought of the talk she had with Mr. Medina today. Now, all the pieces were fitting together, Lorelai was planning on breaking up with him.
"How do you know he hasn't heard from me?" Lorelai yells.
"He wanted to know if you were going to parent's day and then he mentioned that you guys hadn't talked lately," Rory told her.
"He shouldn't be asking you about me." She was angry that he was getting close to her kid. With closeness came the opportunity for pain, she wouldn't put her kids at risk like that.
"Why are you breaking up with him?" Anna asks. She always wonders what it was about two months that made it too deep for her mom. Was it the title of boy/girlfriend that came with dating for a while?
"Because it's not working out," She lied.
"But you seemed so happy." Rory never has seen her mom over the moon about a man before.
"It's not right, that's all." She sat down at the table.
"So that's why you're not going tomorrow?" Rory glares.
"No, I'm not going tomorrow because of the thing at the inn." She tried to keep to her lie.
"That's crap and you know it!" Rory yells.
"Hey!" Lorelai gave her a look to let her know she was crossing the line.
"There is nothing at the inn, you're avoiding Mr. Medina and you're trying to lie to us and you promised you would go and… hey, do whatever you want. I don't care. Just leave me out of it. And give him the book back yourself. Don't be making Anna do your dirty work." Rory goes to her room and slams the door.
"Fine, I will." She huffs.
"Mom, if you're breaking up with him because you don't feel like he right for you, then I'll give him the book. But, if it's the idea of Rory getting close to him that scares you, then you should probably get over your fears and read the book." She gathers her homework.
"I'll give it to him myself." She grabs the pizza box from the trash. Anna went to her room, not wanting to watch her eat the trash pizza.
"Hey, not so fast," Lorelai and Anna tried to catch up with Rory. She was speed walking in front of them.
"The bell is going to ring," Rory told them.
"Before you go one more step, tell me you like me?" Lorelai walks in front of her.
"You bug me," Rory said. Of course, she always li…love her mom but she could be frustrating.
"I'll take that as a yes. And I want you to know that I will deal with my issues with Max myself." She promised.
"Fine," She nods.
"Really," She insisted.
"I believe you." Rory sighs.
"So where are we going?" Lorelai wonders what the first part of the day was.
"To my locker to drop off some of this stuff," Rory walks to her locker.
"I have to do the same." Anna walks across the hall to hers.
She was able to hear Paris and her mother arguing. "You can't just leave now," Paris told her. It made her wonder why the woman showed up at all.
"Paris, please," Her mother sighs. Anna put the books she wouldn't need until later in the locker. She could feel the relief in her shoulders already.
"At least come to my lit class." She begs. It made Anna feel a bit bad for her. She never had to beg her mom to come to support her.
"This place is giving me a headache." She rubs her temples.
"Mom," Paris pleads.
"Is your face breaking out?" She leans to look at acne that wasn't there. As much as Anna hated Paris, she had to admit the girl had flawless skin.
"No." She shook her head.
"You have not been using that cleanser, have you? Now Dr. Yanalari prescribed that cleanser for a reason, to cleanse," She scolds her.
"Just lit class," She asks again.
"Paris with everything I have going on right now the last thing I need to do is face a bunch of bored people who are gossiping about me. I'll see you later at home. Use that cover stick I got you." She storms off. Anna rolls her eyes. She couldn't face the gossip, so she left her daughter to face it alone.
Anna closes her locker before going over to her mother and sister. "Should have known the tree would be similar to the apple?" She nods over to Paris standing by herself in front of her open locker.
"So what's first? Wait, don't tell me." Lorelai put her hands up.
"English lit with Mr. Max Medina," Rory told her anyways.
"Okay, see I told you not to tell me." She sighs. "What about you?" She turns to her youngest.
"I have Biology and after English. So unless you're going to sit through two sciences classes, you should bite the bullet now." Anna smiles at her.
"How does the first annual mother/daughter ditch day sound?" Lorelai look between them.
"Fetal pigs are a big part of my grade, so that's not happening." Anna shook her head.
"Yeah yeah, ok... let's go." She sighs. Rory and she went to English while Anna went to Biology.
Anna raises her eyebrows when she saw only Rory exit Mr. Medina English class. "She didn't run out mid-class did she?"
"No, she is doing that thing right now." She pouts.
"Sooner or later, there'll be one that we all like." Anna pulls her sister into a hug.
"Let's go to the cafe, she going to be a while." Rory and she went to the cafe to get their food and sit down at a table together.
Tristan sat down at their table and made a kissing sound at Rory. "What the fuck was that?" Anna glares at him.
"Oh, you two don't know." He was surprised. Rory may not talk to anyone but Anna had a few friends.
Paris walks up to their table and stood to smirk in front of Rory. "What's going on?" Rory asks.
"Oh, everyone's just talking about the mom that Mr. Medina was seen kissing just now." She smiles down at her.
"What?" The sisters gasp.
"And the weird thing is… she looks a lot like your mom." She points at her.
"What are you talking about?" Rory look around at all the stare they were getting.
"Your mom, Mr. Medina, mouths open. I saw them. How's the coleslaw? Good?" Paris cockily strutted away.
Anna went to go after her, but Tristan pulls her back down. "Don't touch me." She stood up so she was out of his reach.
"Anna, calm down." He put his hands up.
"No, because you think us being humiliated is funny too. Fuck you!" She glares at him.
Lorelai walks over to them smiling. "Hey, did you save me some Jell-O?" The sisters share a look before walking out of the cafe. "What? Anna?! Rory?! Hey, where are you going?" She ran after them.
Rory turn around when they were on the staircase to ask her. "Were you kissing him?"
"What?" She gasps.
"Mr. Medina, just now, were you kissing him?" Anna yells, not caring who was watching because everyone knew anyway.
"Yes." She nods.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rory hissed.
"I don't know." She shook her head.
"You said you were breaking up with him." Rory would rather have her do that than this.
"I was." She reasoned.
"I know I told you to be nice to him but this was a little extreme don't you think?" Rory said making Anna let out a bitter laugh.
"It wasn't supposed to happen." She told them.
"Paris saw you, mom! Paris! Now it's all over the school!" Anna explains the situation that she put them in.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry. I really am. See this is exactly why I didn't want to date him." She points to the ground.
"You didn't want to date him so you wouldn't come to our school and kiss him and humiliate us?" Rory asks seeing if she got this right.
"Yes, that's exactly it." She nods.
"Why would you do this?" Anna yelled. Her mom's love issues shouldn't affect her school life and it defiantly shouldn't affect her love life.
"Because I'm human because I screwed up. I'm sorry." She grabs their hands.
"If you like him so much then why are you breaking up with him?" Rory asks.
"Look, I broke the rules when I brought him into our lives and I realize now that was a very bad idea," Lorelai said making Anna pull her hand away. She was still using them as an excuse.
"But why," Rory pleads for an honest answer.
"Why? Because we are standing in this stairwell yelling at each other that's why! Because it's affecting you, it's seeping into your life and that is the whole reason I made these rules in the first place is to protect you! Both of you!" She raises her voice.
"You know what, maybe it was a good idea that you hid your personal life from us when we were a kid but we're not a kid anymore," Rory told her.
"No, you're right. You're two 40-year-old divorcees, my mistake." Lorelai shook her head.
"Ugh! I can't believe you're blaming this on us! You're the one scared to get burned again, not us!" Anna went up the stairs. Rory followed her.
"I'm not blaming you guys! And I'm not scared!" She runs after them.
"You made up these stupid rules years ago about the way the Gilmore women would run their lives and now you're sticking to them even though they're crazy!" Rory stops to yell at her.
"Oh hey, my crazy, stupid rules are the reason we're doing so good in our lives. They're the reason you grew up the way you did, the reason you're even in this school and the reason you're going to go to Harvard so don't you dismiss my rules." Lorelai screams back.
"Fine! Great! Well, maybe it's time for the rules to change!" Rory crosses her arms over her chest.
"Yes, well, that's for me to figure out, not you!" She uses her mom's card.
"Great! Fine! Well, could you figure it out before French class because I'd rather you didn't start making out with Mrs. Collins." Rory glares at her before going up the stairs.
"Hey. no promises until I see what she looks like!" Lorelai follows her. Anna sighs, deciding to spend English class in the girl's bathroom.
"Look, let's just refrain from fighting in front of the grandmother, ok?" Lorelai pleads with them in front of her parent's house.
"Fine with me," They shrug.
"The last thing I need tonight is a confrontation with my mother." Lorelai sighs before ringing the doorbell. Emily opens the door. "Hi mom, boy the roads were a mess out there tonight." She said as they walk inside.
"Rory, Anna, go upstairs please." Emily points up.
"Is everything ok?" Rory asks.
"Is Grandpa doing well?" Anna asks.
"Everything is fine. Grandpa is good. I have to talk to your mother, please go upstairs." She kept her glare on her daughter. They gave their mom a look wondering what was going on before going upstairs.
"Do you think she knows?" Rory asks when they entered the guest bedroom.
"There were a lot of parents there, so she probably does." Anna sat down on the bed.
Rory sat down at the chair in the front vanity. "I feel bad."
"You feel bad for everyone." Anna felt like her mom could use some humiliation after what she put them through. She shouldn't have even broken up with him there. She should have done it in a more private setting.
Rory and Anna were sitting in the cafe. Tristan was sitting next to Anna begging her to end the silent treatment. "I'm sorry. You haven't talked to me since Wednesday. It's been five days. You're not even wearing your bracelet. Does mini bobcat even have her head still?"
Paris, Louise, and Madeline walk up behind Rory. "See, I told you he wouldn't date a teacher," Louise smirks at Rory's back.
"I wish my mom would sleep with my teacher, it would make midterms a lot easier." Paris snickers.
"Your mom can't even get your dad to sleep with her, so I wouldn't get your hopes up." Anna snickers. Paris glared at her.
"I got this," Rory slammed her book shut and stood up to glare at her rival. "Madeline, Louise, would you excuse us for a minute?" She glances at her goons.
"Ooh, catfight." Louise gave Rory a look that said she wasn't going anywhere.
"I'd go if I were you when the quiet one snaps it's never pretty." Anna glares at them. After getting the nod of approval from Paris they left.
"You're not going to kiss me are you?" Paris smiles at her. Anna bites her tongue to stop from saying that it wouldn't happen even in her wet dreams. She would let Rory have her fiery moment.
"What's wrong with you?" Rory snaps at her.
"Nothing, I'm great." She shrugs.
"You've just spent the past two weeks with all of your family's private problems printed in the newspaper for everyone to read and talk about. I saw how you walked around here! I saw how much you hated it. And then you turn around and pull something like this? Doesn't that seem crazy to you? Do you have any idea how many people you've hurt? Forget me, my sister, and my mom, what about Mr. Medina? He likes you, he encourages you. He holds up your papers and tells the class how great you are. And then you turn around and spread stories about him." During Rory's lecture, Paris looks away. Anna couldn't tell if it was because she thought Rory was being naive to think she cared or if she was feeling guilty. When Paris looks back at Rory with a blank face, Rory sighs and grabs her stuff. "Whatever, forget it, you have no idea what I'm talking about." She walked past Paris.
Anna got up to follow her when Paris spoke. "I do like Mr. Medina." She sat back down.
"Well, I'd take some dance lessons causes the way you express yourself needs a little work." Rory turns back around to tell her.
"I... I probably shouldn't have told people what I saw." Paris admits.
"No, you shouldn't have." She agrees.
"I'm sorry...things have been...well...not good lately." It was painful for her to open up to Rory, to anyone.
"I know." She nods.
"I just didn't want them talking about me anymore, that's all." She looks down at her shoes.
"Well, it worked." Rory sighs.
"Yeah," Paris nods.
"You know, i-if you want to talk…" Rory offers.
"Hey, we are not friends." Paris snaps.
"Oh, that I know. But if you ever do... want to talk about…" Rory kept her giving her offer. She realized these past two weeks that Paris didn't have any real friends. It made her feel sad for her.
"I will if I want to." She walks past Rory.
"Okay." Rory shrugs looks at her sister who was annoyed that she was offering Paris friendship.
"But I probably won't," Paris said, making Rory turn to her.
"That's fine." She let Paris know that she didn't care either way. She wasn't the one missing out.
"But if I do…" Paris said.
"I'm around," Rory promised.
"Okay. I'm going now." She points to the door.
"Bye." Rory sighs.
"Bye." Paris starts to leave but then turns around. "I doubt I will."
"I'm not holding my breath." Rory rolled her eyes and sat back down. Paris finally walks away from them.
"Sometimes your sweetness makes me ill." Anna bites into her butter roll. Rory rolls her eyes at her sister.
"I'm sorry, Rory," Tristan said.
"What?" Her jaw dropped.
"I'm sorry. It is one thing to make playful gabs when it's just me making fun of you and you can throw them back. But, to do that to you when the whole school is making fun of you is wrong. I like to think of us as friends. I will start acting more like it." He said it in such a sincere way that Rory had a hard time taking him seriously. It was always teasing with him, she felt like it had to be a trick.
"Don't call me, Mary." She made her demand.
"Strictly Rory from now on," He promised.
"Okay, you may forgive him." She nods to Anna. Anna pulls out her bracelet from her backpack to put it on. She leaned over to give him a peck. "Don't do that in front of my food." Rory pointed her fork at them.
"Bossy Rory is in full force today." Anna teases.
"Yeah, so watch out." She made a stabbing motion with her fork.
"Mom, we're home," Rory yells when they enter the house.
"You're never going to guess who told off whom today." Anna walks into the living room to find it empty.
"Or who gave me an apology?" Rory went into the kitchen to find it empty too.
When Lorelai didn't run out to get the juicy gossip, the girls began to worry. "Mom?" They walk up the stairs to her room. Their hearts broke when they saw her lying on her bed crying. They lay down on either side of her and hugged her. Rory strokes her hair while Anna wipes the tears from her face.
