The troubadour starts playing a song. Lorelai, Anna, and Rory push past him with large backpacks on their backs. "Coming through! Heavy packs." Rory warns.
"Sorry." Anna held onto her backpack straps as she passed him.
"Out of our way, peace boy!" Lorelai was grumpy from the heavy lifting. "No offense, love the song. Carry on." She looked over her shoulder to apologize. They walk into Luke's diner. "Ugh. And wuss patrol, halt." They drop their backpacks on the floor.
"I've never known such pain." Rory whines.
"We are not walking around Europe with those annoying things on our backs." Lorelai glares at the items on the ground. They panted as they sat down at a table.
"But we're backpacking through Europe. How're we gonna do this without backpacks?" Rory asked.
"I thought the backpacks would stay at the hostel." Anna didn't think about people robbing them.
"I never actually pictured us with backpacks either." Lorelai agrees.
"Well, what were you picturing?" Rory rubs her shoulders.
"Spry, accommodating European men with neat mustaches trailing after us, carrying our luggage, hailing taxi cabs, constantly reminding us how beautiful we are." She detailed her daydreams.
"Oh, that would be nice." Anna imagines Jess with a mustache.
"No, it's just the three of us carrying our backpacks around." Rory gave them a reality check.
"Well, at least my new walking shoes are all broken in. If you count broken skin, broken toes." Lorelai began to unlace her boots.
Luke hurried over when he saw what she was doing. "Don't do that."
"Don't do what?" She continues to loosen them up.
"Don't take your shoes off. This is a restaurant." Luke didn't think he would have to remind someone of that so much.
"I don't see a no shirt, no shoes, no service sign." She looks around for it.
"It's right here, don't do that." He points at his chest.
"We're in pain, Luke." Rory whines.
"I think my armpits are bleeding." Anna rubs them.
"But it's great that you guys are bearing it so nobly. And can you move these?" He points at the backpacks.
"Can? No." Rory shook her head.
"Would we if we could? Debatable." She laces her boots back up.
"I'm never touching that thing again." Anna glares at the backpack that hurt her.
Luke moves the backpacks by the door and stacks them neatly. The ladies watch in amazement. "Look at that." Lorelai nods.
"We struggled to move one and he moved all three at the same time." Anna's jaw dropped.
"Spry and accommodating." Rory hummed.
"Hey, would you grow a mustache and follow us around Europe?" Lorelai asked when he came back to the table.
"Sorry, I have travel plans of my own." He takes out an order pad.
"Really?" Lorelai wondered if it was true or not.
"Yup, I'm closing down the diner for a couple of weeks and taking Nicole on a little trip." He told them.
"Where are you guys going?" Anna asked.
"We're driving through Western Canada and then taking a cruise up to Alaska." He smiled, clearly looking forward to it.
"A cruise?" Rory hummed.
"A road trip and a cruise. Nicole is a lucky lady." Anna smiles.
"Intimate." Lorelai picked up a menu.
"I guess. Is it?" He shrugs.
"The Love Boat." Lorelai sings.
"What?" He squints.
"A cruise is a good spot to get down on one knee." She heard about a lot of people proposing on a cruise.
"And do my ventriloquist act?" Luke pretends to not know what she meant.
"And propose." She spelled it out for him.
"I have no plans to propose." He didn't want those rumors going around.
"You don't know now, but after you've had dinner at Captain Stubing's table and Isaac's served you up a couple of mojitos." She laid on a scenario.
"Romantic cruises say commitment, my friend." Rory agrees. It was trapping yourself with someone for a certain amount of time.
"Or it is a good place to meet a fling or swing. No one you know is going to be there and you'll never see the people on the cruise again." Anna heard of swing cruises at Emily's tea parties. The ladies got spicy when they added Scotch to their Earl Gray.
"I am not committing and I am not proposing and I definitely am not swinging, so drop it." Luke didn't want to talk about any of those things.
"Okay, it's dropped." She looked down at her menu to decide which burger she was going to get.
"Drop it." He knew her well.
"Did I not just say it's dropped?" She looked at her daughters.
"That's what I heard." Anna grabs a menu while Rory nods.
"Thank you." Luke ready his pen.
"The Love Boat." She sings. He gave her a look that said he was debating on hitting her. "If you'd get a radio in here, I wouldn't have to do that."
"Okay, so your graduation is Wednesday at four, correct?" He changed the subject.
"You know, you don't have to go to it, Luke." Rory knew he didn't like social events.
"I want to. I feel like I've been through this whole Chilton thing with you." They did a lot of their schoolwork here. Anna once took up three of his tables to build a small robot.
"Okay, good, I want you there." Anna beams up at him.
"Good. So what do you want?" He waited for their order.
"Are you hungry?" She asked them.
"I can't think of anything but a hot soak in the bath," Anna told her.
"I'm just sore." Rory rolled her shoulders back.
"Let's go home and rest." They get up and start to leave.
"Hey, wait, don't leave these." He pointed at the backpacks.
"Store 'em for us." Rory opens the door.
"Yeah, until we hire a flatbed truck to carry 'em home for us." Lorelai nods.
"No." Luke shook his head.
"Thank you," Anna yelled while they ran outside. They argue about who could carry who. Luke yelled at them that he was going to throw it in the trash.
Students are in line to record messages for the video yearbook. "We all knew that our education at Chilton would be exemplary, but it was the people at Chilton. All my friends, Hi Marcy, love you. Cody and Debbie, love you, too. The faculty, and the administrative staff. Even our janitorial staff, Jaime and Joachim. I can't count the number of times you guys made me laugh.." A girl was speaking in front of the camera.
Anna was standing in line with her friends. "I thought there was a time limit for this. It feels like she's been talking forever."
"It has only been a minute." Eleanor looks at her watch. Roger had his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Things had been going smoothly for them.
"That just speaks to how boring her speech is." Henry yawned. His friends looked at him surprised. He was the calming energy.
Louise takes her turn in front of the camera. "Okay, A/V geek, just pan my body nice and slow." She put a leg up on the chair.
"Why?" The camera guy asked.
"Yeah, why?" Madeline wonders.
"Because I'll never look better than I do now." She straightened up her outfit.
"Come on ladies, we don't have all day. A/V geek, I'm going to need six minutes." Paris pushed her way to the front.
"You're only allowed two." He put up two fingers.
"Rolling!" She orders.
"Rolling." He pushed play.
"Fellow Chilton seniors, it's been quite a year. . ." Paris started the speech she memorized.
"My god, why is this mandatory?" Thomas whines.
"I'm going to make funny faces for two minutes." Anna made her tongue touch her nose.
"I'm going to juggle," Roger smirks.
"You can't juggle." She looks up at her boyfriend.
"Watching me fail will be a metaphor for my high school years." He shrugged.
"That's depressing." Henry snickers.
"We should all do something we're not good at." Anna tried to think of some random thing she couldn't do.
"I'll sing." Having used Eleanor's mom's karaoke machine, they heard Thomas's shriek.
"That punishment for everyone…. Do it." Anna nods eagerly.
"For my two-minute video, I did a figurative dance." She put her shoulder up to hold the phone as she looked through her closet.
"You enjoy making an ass of yourself." He snickers.
"Most of the time, yes." She nodded even though he couldn't see her.
"I got good news." He was eager to tell her but she went into her fun day so he waited.
"What?" She sat up in her bed.
"Everyone ends up seeing me off to Philadelphia. I met my new boss and my dad co-sign a lease on an apartment with me. An apartment that is around the corner from your school." He couldn't believe how close he got to everyone in such a short time.
"What? Around the corner." She gasps.
"Yup, it comes furnished. Sasha is out getting bedsheets and other things she swears I need right away. But, of course, you can change anything you want." He looked around the nice apartment in disbelief. "This place is nicer than any place I've lived in New York."
"I can't wait to be with you." While she was sad to let go of her old life she was excited for this new chapter with him.
"This is all I've been waiting for." He's been wanting to be able to make it on his own since he was eight.
Rory doing a fitting of her graduation dress with Sookie and Lorelai. Anna was sitting on the couch having finished her fitting.
"Maybe we should bring it in a bit more." Sookie pulled on the back.
"Oh sure, but first we'll have to use a medieval torture instrument to crush my ribs and flatten my spinal cord in order to accommodate your sadistic wish there." Rory put on an old British accent.
"Don't use subtlety on us. We're slow." Lorelai tilts her head like she was confused.
"I think she's saying that we don't need to bring it in anymore." Sookie giggles.
"Take it off, you're done." Lorelai agrees.
"Ugh, I should go. I've got a stupid job interview tomorrow morning, and you know what, I'm nervous." Sookie put the tape measure on the table.
"Which place?" She asked.
"Harrington's in Woodbridge." She pouts. "They want me to be their executive chef four nights a week. God, I can't imagine working someplace else. And without my Lorelai!"
"But it's only a few months until the Dragonfly opens, right?" She didn't see why she was pouting. It was only temporary.
"Uh. . .you haven't told them yet." She looked at their confused faces.
"Told us what?" Anna stood up.
"I was waiting for an opportunity." She was hoping to do it after they graduated.
"To tell us what?" Rory crosses her arms.
"Which apparently is right now. Okay, um, hon, listen. We, um. . .we're not buying the Dragonfly." She smiles to hide her pain. She sat them down on the couch.
"What happened? Did someone outbid you?" Anna thought the guy was going to give them time to figure it out.
"No, it's just not the right time." She lied.
"You're crazy. It's a perfect time." Rory thought it would help take her mind off the empty nest.
"Maybe you don't feel ready, but you guys got to. This is the perfect place, you guys said it a thousand times. It's not going to sit on the market forever." Anna knew they might be feeling the pressure but they had to take the leap.
"I'm gonna go, guys. Sorry to spill the beans." Sookie thought they should have this moment privately.
"That's okay. I'll see you later." She waves to her friend walking towards the door.
"Mom, why put it off? I mean, I know the Independence Inn closing is a setback." Rory wasn't going to drop it.
"Big one." She couldn't get a loan without a job to back her up.
"But we've got the rest of Grandpa's money, that's plenty to buy the Dragonfly Inn, and we'll just scrimp on everything until it's all up and running and successful." She knew they could swing it.
"It would take a lot of scrimping." She sighs
"Well, I'm a master scrimper. I would make the Olympic scrimping team. I'm that good, boy." Rory considers herself to be a saver.
"I'm not that good. But I've been getting better. I saved up enough to buy the best-used car on Gsypy's lot." She had gone to take a look at them.
"Honey, we didn't get financial aid for Yale. Between that and culinary school and me not having a job I just can't get a loan." She laid it out for them.
"I don't understand, what happened?" Rory read all the requirements, they qualified for it.
"Well, the irony of ironies, the money I got from your grandpa took us out of the running for financial aid 'cause it made it look like we have money." She explained.
"Well, send them proof, a bank statement, a letter from Grandpa. Here, take a picture of this couch. No one will think we have money after looking at this couch." She pointed at the couch they got at a garage sale when she was a child.
"I tried everything, I swear." She had been on the phone for hours with the bank and the college.
"You don't have to worry about culinary school. I already worked out a deal with Grandma and Grandpa." She didn't want her mother to have to pay for her school while she was starting a new business.
"You did what?" Lorelai's jaw dropped.
"She is going to loan me the money and I call her every other day." She had worked out all the details already.
"No Friday night dinners?" She was surprised.
"I was always planning to go to those. I'm gonna try and visit every other week. I got Saturdays and Mondays off. So after school on Friday, I'll drive down and be on time for dinner." She explained.
"When do you have to start paying them back?" She asked.
"Five years after I finish culinary school, there is no interest." Richard had insisted on that. "Which reminds me I have to let them know that Jess got an apartment. They wanted to pay for that too but I told them that was too much. I got the job so I can help with everyday expenses."
"He did?" Lorelai was shocked.
"Yeah, it's around the corner from the school." She updated her.
"Well, I can do that, or I'll get a student loan out from the bank." Rory wasn't going to let this chance pass by for her mom.
"Honey, I don't want you to be buried by loans the day you graduate from college. Or be indebted to your grandparent." She knew how controlling her parents could be when they had something to hold over someone's head.
"Well, then I'll major in something that'll immediately make me a lot of money when I graduate. I'll major in business or engineering." She stood up to pace.
"You are not changing your major from journalism because of my lack of money." She grabs her arm to stop her
"It's our lack." Rory always thought of them as a team.
"Look, if you need to work as a low-paid intern for a magazine or a stringer for some small-town newspaper or Tom Brokaw's toupee comber-outer before you make real money, then that's what you'll do." She grabbed her hand to sit her down.
"There has to be another way." She was going to go to the Gilmore Manor tomorrow.
"I've looked. There's nothing." She held her hand.
"This is so not fair to you." She hated her mom having to sacrifice something so big for her.
"I'll have my own Inn one day, I promise. But Yale comes first." She squeezed her hand. Rory starts walking to her bedroom. "What are you gonna do now?"
"Rail at God for a while." She storms into her room.
"Tell her I said hi." She turned to her youngest. "Are you sure about this loan?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm the Emily tamer so I'll be fine." She shrugged.
Anna was with her friends waiting for a faculty member to tell them it was time to sit. "You look extra pretty today." Thomas winks at a girl walking by them.
"You compliment strangers before your friends." Roger teased.
"You guys look good but you're standing next to me so decent is the best you can be." Thomas opened his gown to show the black slacks and buttoned dress shirt that had a neat pattern.
"I hope you don't float away when we go outside." Anna rolled her eyes.
"No chance of that not happening with all the hot air going on between his ears." Eleanor scoffs.
"Jeez, you ladies can't take a joke. You all look lovely. We're the best-looking group here." He fixed his collar.
"I can't argue with that." Anna flips her hair. Under her blue robe, she was wearing a short pink floral dress.
Rory ran over to grab her sister's arm. "Anna, I came from our grandparents and I got a loan from them too. Mom's going to be able to get her Inn."
"That's great, Rory." She hugged her.
"I page mom to tell her the news." She ran to her mom when she came in.
"That's one less thing to worry about." She stretched her arms over her head.
"That's great." Henry knew how much the Gilmore teens worried about their mother.
The students took their seats on the lawn. Rory, Anna, and Paris were seated by each other. Paris waves to her Nanny and the kids. "The middle one, Catarina, she bowled a 143 last week." She told them.
"Impressive." Rory nods.
The headmaster took his spot behind the podium as Sookie crouched down in front of them to take pictures. "Guests, fellow faculty, honored attendees, and students, welcome to the Chilton Academy graduating class ceremony of 2003." The crowd applauded for them. Anna leans back in her seat and crosses her legs to pose for the camera. "This year's class is a distinguished assemblage, equal to or surpassing what has preceded it. In its 200-year history, Chilton has not failed to produce a class that brings only honor to these grounds and the academy's fine traditions. To begin, I would like to invite the student body president Paris Gellar to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Paris?"
"As his parting shot to me, Charleston never responded to the three aspects of the pledge that I had an objection to and considered rewriting. That's not going to stop me from using air quotes." She whispers to them before getting up. The sisters turn around to wave to their family and friends.
Brad was behind the podium giving a speech. "Through good times and bad, Chilton formed us, brought us hope, honed our insight, and encouraged us. Though my time here was briefly interrupted by my period spent on Broadway hanging out with Stephen Sondheim, I still consider Chilton the most rewarding experience of my young life. Now it had always been my plan in closing to recite a short poem I'd written."
"I'm starting to understand why Paris bullies him," Anna whispers.
"Something about his face makes him punchable." She grumbled.
"Stop." Rory scolds them.
"But as I read it aloud, I realized the sentiments I wanted to share with my fellow students were better expressed in a favorite song of mine. Cherish is the word I use to describe. . .bong, bong. Bong, bong." He is singing.
"Oh, Brad." Rory felt secondhand embarrassment for him as the two next to her teased him cruelly.
"It's a distinct pleasure for me to introduce to you our valedictorian. This young lady was a second-year transfer from a modest school where she distinguished herself immeasurably. She is humble, hard-working, competitive when needed, and unparalleled in her academic achievements. Ladies and Gentlemen, Rory Gilmore." The Headmaster introduced her.
Anna let out a wolf whistle as she walked on stage. Rory stood behind the podium and looked out at the crowd. All the familiar faces stood out to her. "Headmaster Charleston, faculty members, fellow students, family, and friends, welcome. We never thought this day would come. We prayed for its quick delivery, crossed days off our calendars, counted hours, minutes, and seconds, and now that it's here, I'm sorry it is because it means leaving friends who inspire me and teachers who have been my mentors, so many people who have shaped my life and my fellow students' lives impermeable and forever. I live in two worlds. One is a world of books. I've been a resident of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, hunted the white whale aboard the Pequod, fought alongside Napoleon, sailed a raft with Huck and Jim, committed absurdities with Ignatius J. Reilly, rode a sad train with Anna Karenina, and strolled down Swann's Way. It's a rewarding world, but my second one is by far superior. My second one is populated with characters slightly less eccentric but supremely real, made of flesh and bone, full of love, who are my ultimate inspiration for everything. Richard and Emily Gilmore, are kind decent unfailing generous people. They are my twin pillars without whom I could not stand. I'm proud to be their grandchild." Emily and Richard smiled at the praise she was giving them.
Anna froze when her sister's eyes landed on her. "I was blessed to have a sister who is only 10 months younger than me. When God made her, he knew what I needed. She has taught me many valuable lessons with her resilience, grit, and wit. She showed me that failure is not defeated but an opportunity to grow. I've watched her teach herself new recipes. It didn't matter how many burns or cuts she got. She mastered the dish until it tasted like a pro made it. When I feel like giving up, I think what would Susanna do? The answer is always the same, she analyzes her mistakes and goes in with a new perspective to do better. Because of that, I'm standing here today. It is because of that that I'm confident I will go on to conquer all my goals."
"Are you crying?" Paris was shocked, never seeing Anna show weakness before.
"Shut up." She wiped her tears away.
"My ultimate inspiration comes from the dazzling woman from whom I received my name and my life's blood, Lorelai Gilmore. My mother never gave me any idea that I couldn't do whatever I wanted to do or be whomever I wanted to be. She filled our house with love and fun and books and music, unflagging in her efforts to give me role models from Jane Austen to Eudora Welty to Patti Smith. As she guided me through these incredible eighteen years, I don't know if she ever realized that the person I most wanted to be was her. As we prepare ourselves today to leave. . ." Everyone that was mentioned in the speech had to gather themselves to listen to the rest of it.
They were in line for their diplomas. "Allegra Grace Fass." The announcer called.
"I swear, I do not recognize half of these people." Paris taps the girl in front of her. "Hey. What's your name, what's your story?" She didn't realize how big their class was. She felt like she had the same people in her classes.
"You can ignore her." Anna apologized for her friend. "I have to agree, this is a lot of people for a private school."
"I'm worried about falling," Rory said, making everyone around them stare at her.
"Don't mention falling." She whispers to not speak of everyone's fear.
"Noted." They kept quiet as the line moved along.
"Paris Eustace Gellar." The announcer said.
"Finally, a name I recognize." She walks on stage and receives her diploma.
"Congratulations, Paris." The headmaster stuck his hand out.
"No hard feelings." She shook his head.
"Okay." He had no idea what she was talking about as she walked off the stage.
"Lorelai Leigh Gilmore." The announcer said.
"You got this." She patted her back.
Rory walks on stage to shake his hand. "Congratulations, Rory."
"Thank you, Headmaster." She took the diploma holder before walking off stage to make a face at her mom.
"Susanna Emily Gilmore." Her name was called.
"What?" Emily turned to Lorelai, who told her she didn't have a middle name.
"Look too much like you to not have your name." She mutters. Emily cried again grabbing a tissue from her purse.
"Congratulations, Anna." He shook her hand before handing her the holder.
"Thanks, but I still remember our first day." She squeezed his hand before snatching the holder. She did a pageant wave and blew kisses to random people as she walked off stage. "What do you teach your children, Lorelai?" Emily sighed.
"Everything I know." She giggled.
She sat down next to Rory. "Look," Rory pointed at her mom. She was holding up a sign that said, we got the inn. The girls gave her a thumbs up.
Anna and Rory walk over to Lorelai and Luke. "How was my speech?" Rory asked.
"It made everyone cry, including stone-cold Luke." She pointed at him.
"Luke, you old softy." She teased.
"I will never live this down." He mutters.
"Not with me in your life." She pointed to herself proudly.
"I gotta go, I gotta get back to the diner." He told them.
"Thanks for coming, Luke." They hugged him.
"Oh, sure. The building's amazing. So are you." He patted their backs. They thank him one more time before walking away to see their friends.
Anna walks over to Thomas, whose family became like a second one to her. "Hey." She smiled.
"Congratulations." Mrs. Jensen put a candy lei on her. "In Hawaii, they give this out at graduation. I think it's a sweet touch."
"Thank you." She looks at candies wrapped in colorful wrappers and twisted to make a lie.
"Let's take a picture." Mr. Jensen had her and Thomas pose.
"We'll give you guys a moment to say goodbye." They walk off to give a lei to the rest of his friends.
"I just wanted to say thank you." Thomas looks down at his feet.
"Thank me?" She tilts her head.
"Before I made friends with you, I spent all my time partying and dating." He put his hands in his pockets.
"It's not a bad life." She smiled.
"No, but I wasn't happy. I made friends with you and you led me to everyone else. I had more fun with you guys studying than I ever did drinking with a bunch of strangers." He pulled her into a hug.
"I have to thank you for always being there for me. You are my ride or die." She found a best friend in Thomas. She cried into his gown.
"I'm always going to be." His tears hit the top of her head.
The Gilmore Family was gathered together. "Well, I think it might be time to present the girls with their graduation gifts." Richard smiles.
"Oh, you guys didn't have to get me anything." Rory shook her head.
"Yeah, you did enough." Anna agrees.
"Nonsense." Emily smiles at their humbleness.
"Uh, this one wouldn't fit in an envelope, so follow me please." He led the group to the parking lot.
"We're excited about this one." She put a hand on each of their backs.
They walk toward the parking lot. "Anna, Rory, there is your gift. It's the ones with the bows." Richard kept his back to the lot, wanting to see their faces.
"Um, Grandpa." They smiled.
"Richard." She pointed to the parking lot which is filled with cars with bows on them.
"Oh, for Pete's sake. Well, it was the only two there when we drove them up." He threw his hands in the air at his surprise being ruined.
"You should've put a more distinctive bow on it." She was unhappy about this being ruined.
"Well, how was I supposed to know that every kid at Chilton was getting a car?" He put his hands on his hips.
"You got us a car?" Rory gasps.
"We have to work out a schedule." Anna turns to her sister.
"We switch off every month." Rory nods.
"We got a car for each of you." He thought it was cute that they were planning on sharing.
"That's amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Which one is it?" She bounced on her heels.
"We got you guys matching Prius. It's safe, it gets great gas mileage." He described it.
"And it's the one that Leonardo DiCaprio drives," Emily told them.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you." They hugged their grandparents.
"We love you, too." Emily squeezed them tightly.
"And don't forget to call about…" He was going to remind them but Rory beat him to it.
"Insurance. I'll do it the second I get home." She nods.
"Good. Congratulations, Rory. And thank you for your speech." His smile was back on his face.
"You're welcome. I meant it, thank you for everything." Rory felt like she should be thanking them, not the other way around.
"Have fun in Europe. All of you." She smiled at Lorelai.
"Thank you, Mom." She smiled.
"When do you get back?" She asked.
"The 27th." She told her.
"Terrific. We'll see you that Friday for dinner." They take their leave.
They walk toward the school building. "Explain the win-win-win thing again." She asked Rory.
"Everybody wins, that's what it is." Rory didn't think dinner was that big of a sacrifice. If she was honest she liked having her family all together. Their shared cell phone rang. "Here you go." She hands it to her sister.
"Hey." She walks off to the side.
"Hey, congratulations. So what walk did you do?" She had talked to him endlessly about different options.
"Pageant wave." She smiled.
"Send me a postcard on your trips, alright?" He knew they wouldn't be able to call because the long-distance calls would cost too much.
"Sure, I'll probably get there before they do." She smiled.
"Then we can get them together." He shrugged.
Lorelai grabs Anna and Rory's hands and rushes down a hallway. "You pulled my arm out of its socket." Anna whines.
"Mom, wait." Rory was having a hard time keeping up.
"Hurry, hurry." She pulled harder.
"This outfit produces a lot of wind resistance." She complains. They stop at the bottom of the staircase. "What are we doing?"
"Leaving our mark. Got a knife?" She turns to them.
"Why would we have a knife?" Anna didn't keep weapons on her person.
"Why do you need a knife?" Rory asks.
"To Carving our initials. Come on, knife, knife." She held out her hand.
"Uh, like the switchblade I keep in my sock? No, I left it at home." Rory rolled her eyes.
"I must have something in here." She looks through her purse. "Ah, safety pin, perfect."
"That's not going to be sharp enough." Anna shook her head.
"People need to know we were here." She tried but it wasn't even scratching the wood.
"We're in the yearbook." Rory reasoned.
"How about the wall?" She turned to stare at it.
"No, that's too out in the open. They'll trace it back to us." She shook her head.
"They'll see LG, RG, and SG, and figure out it was us?" She doubted that.
"There's cameras." Anna points at one of them hanging above them.
"Everything in here is historical so it could be respected." Rory pointed at the various things around them. "This marble is two hundred years old. Harriet Beecher Stowe walked on this marble. The banister was donated by Rober Frost. The sconce was ceremonially lit for the first time by Thomas Edison."
"Oh, maybe it's not such a good idea." She pouts.
"The madness passes." They let out a breath of relief.
Sookie opens the door. "Hey, you guys coming? Party at your place, right?"
"A Party?" They turn to their mother.
"Just a little gathering." She put her thumb and pointer close together to show how small it was going to be.
"Not if I know Stars Hollow." Anna knew they went big and overdid things but she wouldn't have her town any other way.
