"I was in the hospital all whacked out on demerol"
--☆--☆--☆--
None of the Gilmore Girls were particularly good at getting out of the bed in the morning. But this morning wasn't like other mornings, no this morning was different. Today was the twins first day at Chilton Prep, meaning they needed to get there on time.
The oldest Gilmore ran up the stairs, opening the door to twin sister's room just as Cassie snoozed her alarm. Rory practically jumped onto her younger sister, causing Cassie to let out a groan knowing that she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep any time soon.
"Wake up!"
"What are you, five?" Cassie said, lifting up her pillow so she could use it to hit Rory.
Rory grabbed onto the pillow, now using it to her advantage. She hit Cassie, just like any sister would when provoked. "Come on Cassie, it's our first day."
"Really? I had no idea," Cassie pushed her blanket off, the cold air hitting her body. She shook her head before trying to get back under her covers but of course Rory stopped her. "In this moment, this exact moment, I hate you."
"Yeah, yeah. You'll thank me later."
Knowing that Cassie wouldn't fall back asleep Rory went back downstairs to continue getting ready. All while the younger Gilmore slowly maneuvered around her room to put on all the items that made up her uniform. She wore a plaid skirt that may or may not have been a little bit shorter than Rory's, a pair of white knee high socks. Then of course she had a blue blouse that she had tucked into the skirt and a cropped blazer that showed off the school's logo.
Cassie sat down at her desk, she left her hair in its naturally wavy look, only fixing a couple strands so it wouldn't look like she just rolled out of bed. A natural makeup look was quickly applied as she occasionally glanced over at her clock so she wouldn't be late. Just as she stood up from her desk Rory came bursting into her room for the second time that morning.
"Is your bag packed?" Rory asked her.
"Jeez you're acting more like a Mom than Mom does," Cassie said but still held up her backpack for her sister to see.
The girls got new backpacks for their first day of school. Rory picked a bright yellow one so she'd always know which one was hers while Cassie's was the same brand but a navy blue color. After all she was a sucker for navy blue, and yes part of it is because she loved the Yankees.
"All your notebooks are in there?"
"Yeah," Cassie answered without checking to make sure that all her books were in fact in her bag.
"What about this one?" Rory asked, picking up a book that she found on the kitchen table downstairs. Cassie reached forward grabbing the notebook from her sister and put it into her bag.
While Cassie was actually checking that she had all her books Rory went to go check on Lorelai's progress. Rory expected to see her mother fully dressed and ready to go, but when she opened her bedroom door Rory was met with pure shock.
"Mom!" Rory yelled at the top of her lungs.
Lorelai gasped, feeling her stop for a second as she turned to see her oldest daughter staring at her. "What? God. Hi."
"What are you doing?!" Rory shouted at her.
"Having a heart attack."
"What's going on?" Cassie asked as she ran into her mother's room. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw her mother essentially still asleep. "Mom!"
"I thought you were up! It's 7:10," Rory informed her mother.
"What?" Lorelai groaned, still groggy from sleep.
"It's 7:10!" Cassie yelled at her mom, pulling her pillow away from her.
"Stop it," Lorelai pouted. "It's a quarter to 6:00."
"Uh no," Cassie said in a 'duh' tone.
"Yes, it is. I set the clock for a quarter to six, so it's-" Rory picked up Lorelai's alarm clock, and practically shoved it in her mother's face. "It's 7:10! Damnit!" Lorelai quickly got out of bed, moving past her two daughters.
"We can't be late on our first day of school! Do you know what happens to people when they're late on their first day?"
"It's shorter?" Lorelai answered as she went towards her drawers.
"For the rest of the year they're labeled "The late Girl" or girls in our case," Rory corrected.
"Oh! So dramatic," Lorelai said, scoffing lightly. "Where's the bathroom?" Cassie grabbed her mother by her shoulders, leading her towards the bathroom as Rory followed only a few steps behind them.
"We have to go! What if there's traffic?"
"I had this all planned," Lorelai told her girls as she closed the door to the bathroom. "I was gonna get up early. I was gonna get coffee. I was gonna take a shower. I was gonna pick up my clothes from the dry cleaners," Lorelai said, listing what would've been her morning if her alarm went off. However as she was listening Lorelai made a sudden realization, one that made her open the bathroom door. "Oh, my god. My clothes."
"What?!" Rory snapped.
"I don't have any clean clothes," Lorelai realized as she walked back into her room.
"It's 7:15!"
"All my nice things were dirty," Lorelai continued, ignoring the words spoken by her oldest daughter.
"It's 7:16," Rory said as she and Cassie followed their Mom back into her room.
Lorelai turned away from her closet, facing her daughters. "I was gonna wear my blue suit with the flippy skirt. I look so great in the flippy skirt."
"It's 7:17."
"You know what, time lady? Why don't you go downstairs and warm up the car? That would be really super," Lorelai told her as she practically pushed her towards the stairs.
"Just hurry!"
"You really would've looked great in the flippy skirt," Cassie commented before following Rory out the door.
"It's 7:18!"
"Oh for the love of god!" Lorelai screamed.
Cassie couldn't help but laugh as she grabbed her backpack from her room before heading down the stairs. Rory quickly turned on the car before grabbing her own backpack and the two of them waited on either side of the staircase. They both turned, hearing Lorelai's footsteps heading down the stairs.
"It's 7-"
"Don't even think about finishing that sentence," Lorelai told her, finally making it to the bottom of the steps. Both of the twins raised their eyebrows as they looked at the outfit Lorelai had picked out for their big day. She had on a bright pink tie dye shirt and a pair of shorts that were awkwardly long. "What?"
"What the hell are you wearing?" Cassie asked, looking her mother up and down the way any judgemental teen girl would.
"I didn't realize the rodeo was in town," Rory added.
"All right. That's it," Lorelai sighed, as she walked past her girls. "I'm bringing the baby pictures."
"No!" Cassie's eyes widened in horror.
"I'm sorry! I love the rodeo. The rodeo rules," Rory yelled as the twins ran after Lorelai, finally making their way out of the house.
The three girls piled into the Jeep, Cassie in the back, Rory and Lorelai in the front. Within seconds they were pulling out of the driveway and they were on their way out of Stars Hollow.
--☆--☆--☆--☆--☆--
The half an hour drive went way too fast for Cassie's liking. With every mile they got closer to the school the more nervous she got. Suddenly she began to worry if she was smart enough for a school like Chilton. She didn't think she was ready, she was worried that she'd fail.
She hoped that once they arrived at the school her worries would go away, however she was wrong. All three of the Gilmore Girls looked up at the daunting school, suddenly wondering why they had been so excited to arrive in the first place.
"I remember it being smaller," Rory said, breaking the silence
"Yeah, and less..."
"Off with their heads," Cassie finished for her mother, earning two nods of agreement.
"Yeah," Lorelai tilted her head, trying to look up to the top of the building. Cassie and Rory copied her actions, trying to see what she was looking for.
"What are you looking at?"
"I'm just trying to see if there's a hunchback in that tower."
Rory sighed, ready to stop talking about how spooky their new school looked. "So how do I look?"
Lorelai smiled, turning her head to look at Rory then back at Cassie. "You look great. You both do."
"Really?"
"Really. You girls are amazing. You earned this," Lorelai told them, making their egos grow just a little bit. "You just go in there and show them what smart really is. I love you. Call me if you need me," Lorelai reached her hand back, holding Cassie's hand while she spoke.
"You're kidding, right?"
"No," Lorelai answered with a smile. "Call me if you need anything. I'm great at making up dirty cheers."
"Mom, you have to come in with us," Cassie reminded her.
"Girls, come on," Lorelai glanced down at her outfit, trying to remind them of the dilemma they were facing only a half hour ago.
"You have to meet the headmaster," Rory told her.
"Well look at me. I can't meet anybody who does anything in there."
"Mom!"
"I look like that chick from The Dukes of Hazzard. "
"She's kind of right Rory," Cassie interjected. "We can just tell them that she was running late for work or something."
"No. This is our first day. You are not getting out of going in there with us," Rory told her, essentially forcing their mother out of the car.
The three Gilmores got out of the car and the second her feet touched the ground Cassie felt the sudden urge to recreate their first preschool drop off. She had never been so nervous in her entire life. She felt like an alien at the school and they've only been there two minutes.
Rory immediately started looking around for the Ambroise building, while Cassie was struggling to catch her breath. And of course within five seconds of looking for said building a man walked up to the three Gilmores, immediately taking a liking to Lorelai.
The man introduced himself as Ian Jack, telling them that his daughter also attended the school. Then naturally Lorelai introduced herself and her two daughters, which shocked the man. He asked the same question that Lorelai's heard about a million times.
"Your daughters? Really?"
Their conversation took a slight turn as they tried to see if either of them had commitments to other people, which of course they didn't. Rory eventually had enough of all the talk and tried to remind Lorelai why they were there in the first place.
But after only taking two steps away from the man Lorelai turned back around to tell the man about her career. Rory turned to her sister with a knowing glance, and Cassie had to force a smile. The entire time Lorelai and Ian were flirting the youngest Gilmore was going through all the reasons she wasn't qualified for a school like Chilton.
"You okay?" Rory whispered, knowing that something was off.
"I can't do this Rory."
"Yes, you can. You're smarter than half the people in this school," Rory told her. "Now let's grab mom so I can finish this pep talk."
Rory stepped up, pulling her mother away from Ian. She needed to remind her of the outfit she wore and suddenly Lorelai was back. Rory grabbed her sister's hand, in an attempt to reassure her that she did belong here.
The girls finally made it into the building and took a left, just as Ian instructed them to do. The hallway was long and almost creepy but the three Gilmore's kept their heads held high. They walked into the last room, coming across an older woman who sat at a desk in the middle of the room.
Lorelai nervously cleared her throat, not knowing what else to do. "Um... Excuse me." The woman looked up and at the same time all three pairs of Gilmore eyes widened. "Oh! Hi. I-I'm Lorelai Gilmore. These are my daughters, Lorelai and Cassidy Gilmore. I named one after me and the other after the nurse I threw ice at. I was in the hospital all whacked out on demerol. Never mind. But we call her Rory, it's short for Lorelai, and we call her Cassie," Lorelai explained as she gestured to each of her daughters. "They'll answer to either one or even "Hey, you" depending on the... is the headmaster here?"
"One moment," The woman stood up slowly, walking past the Gilmores to get to the door behind them.
"See, that's what happens when you go to bed with your makeup on," Lorelai whispered.
They heard the door close and open, then suddenly the woman was standing behind them again. "Headmaster Charleston will see you now."
Rory linked her arm with Cassie's, whispering a quick, "You got this," to her. Cassie smiled, glad that she had Rory beside her at this moment.
"Ms. Gilmore, I'm Headmaster Charleston," He said, shaking hands with Lorelai.
"Hi, wow. It's really nice to meet- Mom?" Confusion spread on the faces of the three out of the four Gilmores in the room. "Excuse me," Lorelai said before walking over to her mother. "What are you doing here?'
"I came to wish my granddaughters luck on their first day of school," Emily answered as she walked right past Lorelai to get to Cassie and Rory. "Girls, you look wonderful in those uniforms."
The conversation shifted onto how Emily knew the Headmaster. Turns out the older Gilmores have been friends with the Headmaster for a while. Emily and his wife were on some symphony together while Richard and the Headmaster himself were golf rivals.
Then once again the conversation shifted when the Headmaster asked if Lorelai wanted to take off her coat. The youngest Gilmores in the room both subtly shook their heads, trying to urge their mother to keep her coat on. But of course with Emily in the room, the coat came off and the room fell silent.
Emily rolled her eyes before leading the girls towards the Headmaster's desk. There were three chairs at the front of the desk, one that was obviously just put there that morning. Cassie and Rory sat down in the more permanent seats while Lorelai sat down next to Cassie.
Within seconds of sitting down Emily was already gesturing for them to leave. Now the girls were alone with the headmaster.