Anna was up in her room looking over her application for Gillespie's Culinary Art School and for the prep cook position in the kitchen of Gillespie's, the chef's first restaurant that is right next to the school. Lorelai and Rory were in the kitchen obsessing over her application to Harvard. Anna was happy to be able to do this by herself where she would concentrate. She looked over the checklist they had for people applying out of high school: complete application, three letters of recommendation, short essay with a maximum of 750 words explaining your desire to go into the culinary arts, SAT scores, a phone interview, proof of citizenship, and of course the application fee. She was using her best handwriting to fill out the application. She put down her pen when her hand got sore.
"Do you think it is possible to get the job, but not get into the school?" She looked over at Jess, who was reading on her bed.
"I guess." He didn't look up from the book.
"Because I think that would be a better option than the alternative of getting into the school and not getting the job because I need the money. Not that it's going to be enough to cover rent and tuition. Oh, my god, what am I going to do if I get in? I'm going to be in debt forever or homeless or both." She was hyperventilating.
"Oh, shit..." He put the book on the side, bent down in front of her to cup her face. "You have the privilege of rich grandparents who think the sun shines out of your ass. They would not let you be in debt or homeless."
"I can't let them pay for everything." She didn't want to use them like that.
"Then you can take out a loan from them like your mom did." He reasoned.
"I guess." She took a deep breath.
"You're going to get into the school and the job position." He said it like it was a commonly known fact.
"You think so?" She questions.
"I know so. I looked up the school and they have a certain number of spots for kids coming out of high school." Jess told her.
"Yeah, there are only 25 guaranteed spots for the best high school students." She nods.
"It's 25 spots for it but it's not like they can't accept more. But, you're going to be in that 25. How many high school students can say they had years of experience in working in two professional kitchens? One of them being an Inn that hosts weddings and other fancy events." He thought she was a shoo-in.
She leaned forward to kiss him. "I love you."
"You have no choice, you clearly need me." He gave her a peck before laying down on the bed. "I love you too." He mutters just loud enough for her to hear while keeping his eyes on his book.
She giggles at his sad angry boy ways as she goes back to filling out her applications.
Before school, Anna took a trip to the Independence Inn kitchen. "Hey Sookie," She went in to see her filling up the breakfast quiches.
"Hi Honey." She smiled.
"I got my application to Gillespie's yesterday." She told her.
"That's great, let me know if you need anything I'll help as much as I can." She had been through the process before.
"I wanted to ask you to write a letter of rec..." She was going to begin her speech when Sookie cut her off.
"I would be honored." Sookie put a hand over her heart.
"Really?" She perks up.
"Yeah, I love to rave about you to a group of people. I do it all the time already." She stated proudly.
"She does." One of the prep cooks spoke up.
"Where do you want me to put the folder?" She held it up.
"In my purse in the cabinet. Oh no, it may bend in my purse. We can't have the important papers bending." She shook her head.
"It's alright, Sookie. Your letter is the important paper, not this." She tried to calm her down.
"Right, then my purse is fine." She nods.
"Thank you so much." She kissed her cheek before putting the folder away.
Anna was spending her time after school in the library with Thomas. She was waiting for Rory to be done hosting the college seminar. "I feel like I sound so generic." She looked down at the opening paragraph she had for the entrance essay.
"What's you got?" He looked up from the magazine he was reading.
"Food is a beautiful art form that brings people together every day." She read her opening line.
"Why don't you say you want world peace?" He smirks.
She put her forehead on top of the table. "They're never going to let me in."
"What was the moment you decided you wanted to be a chef?" He asked.
"It was a combination of moments. Sookie is a scatterbrain klutz, but when she cooks she is graceful and focused. Luke is grumpy and refuses to look on the bright side but when he cooks if you listen closely he hums. " She hums the happy tone he often did.
"Luke hums?" He tilts his head.
She laughed nodding her head. "I thought as a kid that cooking has to be magical because it brings out the best in people when they do it. It brings people to you. People travel to Sookie and Luke. My mom hated Luke but she grew to love him because she couldn't resist his cooking. I want that. I want to be the best me I can be. I wanted to bring people together that might not have if it wasn't for my food."
"That's what you should write. It is unique to you while still having the sentiment that food is more than nurturement." He nods to the paper.
"Bless you." She drew out a new outline for her essay.
"I'm so happy I get to relax while the rest of you freak out." He put his hands on the back of his head.
"I still can't believe your parents are fine with you not going to college." She figured they would want him too since they were paying for him to have a top high school education.
"My mom's an artist. They get that college isn't for everyone." He never enjoys school, so it didn't make sense to him to go to college.
"I know you got the best deal of traveling with her mom as she introduces her latest art exhibit. I didn't even know that artist did tours." She was amazed that he would be spending the next year traveling the world.
"Hey, I'm going to be working: putting up paintings, being her bodyguard, and probably driving because the woman is terrible at it. It's not going to be all food and parties." He listed his responsibilities.
"You're not allowed in the art studio at home so I doubt that you'll be allowed to hold the paintings." She scoffs.
"That's only if she sculpts." He defends himself.
"Send me a postcard from every country. You can spend them when you get home so it's less expensive. And there's more of a chance of me getting it." She felt that international mailing was risky.
"That's the cheapest thing that anyone asked for." The thing he liked most about Anna was that she was simple. She wasn't like the other girls in Chilton who weren't impressed by anything that didn't cost at least a grand. He never felt like he was being measured up when he was with her.
Rory came running in. "I'm freaking out. I'm unoriginal. I'm like a thousand other high schoolers applying to Harvard all around the world. I am writing about Hillary Clinton. I'm a joke who goes for the most obvious thing. I'm desperate, doing every extracurricular and volunteer activity. Harvard doesn't like that, it makes them think I'm immature and have no personality. " She opened her bag to throw all the Hillary Clinton books on the table.
"What's going on?" Anna got up.
"The seminar made me realize that I'm going to be rejected because everything I was going to do is wrong. Now I don't know what I'm going to do." She wipes the tears from her eyes.
"Take a breath Rory, you got months. You can regroup." She grabs her arms to stop her from pulling at her hair.
"But, I have no plan." She yelled, making the librarian hush her.
"You don't have to let them know about all the extracurricular or volunteer work," Thomas piped up.
"What?" She stares at him, not realizing he was there.
"You can write down the one that you did for enjoyment. The one that shows your personality." He explained.
"Oh, that's good." She nods.
"We can do more workshopping on the essay. You're not alone in this, you got me and mom. We're not much but we'll find a way, we always do." She comforted her.
"You guys are a lot." She hugs her.
"Hi Luke, how is it going?" She sat down at the counter in the diner.
"Beside Taylor trying to be my neighbor, great." His words are dripping with sarcasm.
She decided to ignore every instinct to ask questions and took a deep breath to get it over with. "I got my application in for Gillespie's, you know the culinary school I wanted to get into. I need three letters of recommendation. I was wondering if you would write a letter for me. I got the envelope with a stamp and address on it. I also printed out information and examples of letters. I even have some printer paper and money for the ink. But, you don't have to if you don't have the time or just don't want to. I already got Sookie and Mrs. Richie, the lady who runs the soup kitchen, to write one, so I still could ask Mr. Mata. He is the teacher advisor for the baking club. So, no pressure if you don't want to." She rambles.
Luke stared at her, trying to process the words that were coming out of her mouth quicker than she could breathe. "Say yes, and put her out of her misery." Jess came over to the counter when he saw his girlfriend.
"Of course, I'll do it." He nods.
"You will?" She was the most unsure about him.
"Yeah, someone has to let these people know what a star they are about to get." He smiled, glad to have some good news on this crazy day.
"Thank you so much." She ran around the counter to hug him tightly.
"Okay, I have to breathe." He whines as he feels his rib cage being squeezed.
"Sorry." She let go and held out the folder. "Here is everything you need."
"Got it." He grabbed it and took it to his apartment, so he wouldn't lose it.
"So I heard you are getting Taylor as a neighbor." She smiled at Jess.
"What did you just say? Luke!" He ran after his uncle. He came back down a few minutes later. "He wants to open an old-fashioned Soda Shoppe. Luke said no." He informed her as they walked out the door.
"A milkshake would be good right now." She hummed.
"If you want him to write that letter, you will not say that in front of him." Jess snickers.
"Why does Taylor want that anyway?" She asked.
"To keep the kids off the street." He scoffs.
"He realized that kids don't want to be around him, right?" Taylor had too many rules for kids to enjoy his company.
"Tell him that." He snickers, imagining how that argument would go.
"No, thank you. I'm surprised he wants to open a soda shop. I thought he would say the kids had too much sugar and that's why they are acting up. So, he would open a large upscale salad bar." She felt like that was more up Taylor's alley.
"I'm surprised that's not what Luke is running." Jess had never eaten so many vegetables until he moved in with Luke. They walk up the steps to her house. "No one's home." He noticed there was no jeep in the driveway or sound in the house.
"Rory and mom are at an alumni dinner to help Rory through the application process." She told him.
"I'm so glad that I don't have to do that." He threw himself down on the couch.
"Funny, Thomas said the same thing." She sat herself down on his legs. He grumbled as he pulled them out from under her and laid them over her lap.
"Us free spirits feel for you caged birds." He teased her.
"I love that poem." She opened her mouth to recite it.
Jess covers his ears. "No, thank you."
"Excuse me, you don't ignore Maya Angelou." She straddles his waist to force his hands down so he could hear the poem. "Come on, this isn't even a hard one to get."
"I know I heard the autobiography." He kept his hands against his ears.
"Oh, you can hear me anyway." She smiled at him, giving himself away. "A free bird leaps…." She went on to recite the poem to her forced audience.
"So the siblings are in a sexual relationship?" Anna asked about the children of the Havard Alumni.
"No, they were not. Stop saying that, mom." Rory scolds her. They walk into the town meeting late as usual.
"Young ladies, in anticipation of your tardiness, we saved three seats for you right there in the back." Taylor pointed at three chairs in the back by the door.
"Thanks for thinking of us, Taylor." She guides her children to the front. "Whew! Okay, raise your hand if you bathed in cologne." She bullied a man into moving over so that they could sit down.
"In the interest of getting home sometime tonight, I'd like to bring up the final point of business, and that is a certain citizen's desire to open an old-fashioned soda shop in town," Taylor announces, making everyone break out in whispers.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa." Luke stood up.
"Who's the guy?" Babette asked.
"What other putz would wanna open up an old-fashioned soda shop?" Luke pointed at Taylor.
"Dispense with the Yiddish, young man." The older man clad in a sweater wasn't amused.
"This is not a town matter, Taylor. This is a private matter between you and me which was settled when I said no." Luke didn't need everyone weighing in on his business.
"This is a town matter because when this town is in need of a particular business to provide necessary services, it's up to the town to band together and lure it." He explained why he could bring it up in the town meeting.
"How does a stupid soda shop count as a necessary business?" Luke wasn't about to let him force his hand.
"Allow me to show you something that will make you wonder how we ever lived without it. Kirk, if you will." Taylor nods to Kirk. He pushes a covered table in front of the podium."Kirk, I told you to get something decorative to cover it." He was not impressed with the white sheet.
"Well, my mom wouldn't let me use one of her nice tablecloths so I just grabbed a sheet from my hamper." Lorelai scrunched up her nose, thinking about how bad that sheet must feel.
"Take it off." Taylor sighs. Kirk removes the sheet to reveal a miniature model of the proposed soda shop.
"What's that, a toy?" Luke looked at the model of the street he lived on.
"Oh, it's awfully cute." Patty looked down at it.
"That is a professionally manufactured diorama of the proposed business," Taylor explained what it was.
"Wow, there's little people and everything." Rory stared in amazement.
"They look so real." Sookie could believe how much the building looked like the ones outside.
"Hey, it's me holding a tiny zucchini!" Jackson pointed at the toy that looked like him.
"Am I in there?" Anna searches for herself.
"Look at the horse-drawn carriage." Lorelai was drawn to the horse.
"My thought was to park it out front with the name of the business painted on the side. It's very eighteen-hundreds." He explained the purpose of the horse.
"The horse is taller than the front door." Babette pointed out.
"Is the horse going to stand in the sun all day? The poor horse needs shade and room to run? They are not meant to be decorations." Anna was outraged at the treatment of the animal.
"What are you up to, Taylor? Are you breeding giant horses or abusing them?" Luke asked.
"It will not be abused and it's only slightly out of proportion." He defends himself.
"Slightly? That little guy there could walk right under the horse without even ducking." Babette pointed to the toy standing next to the horse.
"You're missing the big picture here, townsfolk. Now, this wonderful business belongs in Stars Hollow, whether Luke rents the space willingly or not." He glares at the flannel-wearing man.
"How would I not rent it willingly?" He threw his hands in the air.
"I'm talking about eminent domain, my friend. Check the town's bylaws. If a three-fourths majority finds it necessary to use the space for a specific function, the landowner must concede." Taylor explained the law he was ready to misuse.
"That's for taking over houses to turn into hospitals during a national emergency like the Civil War. If you wanna turn this place into a Civil War hospital, be my guest!" Luke wasn't ignorant of the law.
"Some would attest that the succor that my soda shop is going to offer is on the same level as the comfort that a hospital could provide." He pointed down at his model.
"You're gonna need a hospital, Taylor!" Luke pointed at him.
"Hit him!" Lorelai yelled.
"Which one?" Rory asked.
"Either one, I'm easy." She was ready to watch a fight.
"Come on, Luke. This shop is based on the original soda shop that was in town eighty years ago. Don't you see? You are preventing the town..." Taylor went on to argue.
"From moving backward. Who here wants to do that?" He looked around at the crowd.
"We like ice cream." Lorelai tried to change her voice like it wasn't officially her who said it.
"Oh, come on." He scoffs.
"A nice burger from Luke's and an ice cream soda, yum!" Rory hummed. Anna was happy that they said it so she wouldn't have to.
"You want that thing?" He looked at them in disbelief.
"With a cherry." Lorelai smiled.
"With the striped awning and the giant horse?" He pointed at that ridiculous thing. Everyone in the crowd shouted yes. "Be ready to pay through the nose." Luke turns to Taylor.
"We'll talk terms. We have our soda shop, everybody! Meeting dismissed." He bangs his gavel before Luke could change his mind.
Lorelai got up to talk to Luke. "Hey, you get to be Taylor's landlord, that's kind of cool."
"Thanks for your lack of help." He walked away.
"Grump." She pouts at his back.
"I want to be there when Jess finds out." She ran after Luke. "He caved." She yelled as they entered the diner.
"What? I told you not to go to that stupid meeting." Jess slammed his notepad down on the counter.
"The whole town turned against me. Even her family." He pointed at Anna as he went up the stairs to the apartment.
"So, you got the town to do your dirty work." He was impressed with her ways.
"No, Taylor did that." She sat down across from him. "I feel good. I was productive this week. I got all my letters of recommendation lined up. The first draft of my essay is done. I even did a mock interview with Thomas."
"How did that go?" He smirks, knowing it couldn't have been a serious interview.
"Not so well, he kept asking me things like how does one flambe? And, who is the real Captain Crunch? The whole time he acted like he was auditioning for a game show. But, it did help with my nervousness." She laughed.
"Maybe we should put in an application to the apartment across the street from it." He knew it was a popular place, so it might be good to get their names in.
"You've been looking up apartments." She didn't even do that.
"Yeah, the rent is decent and a lot of the students from your school rent there so you'll be able to make friends." He shrugs like it wasn't a big deal.
"You would move to Philadelphia with me." She smiles sweetly at her boyfriend.
"I'm not staying here." He looked offended that she thought she was going to leave him behind.
"When that soda shop opens I'm going to get you a float." She leaned across the counter to kiss his cheek.
