Chapter 1

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Chapter One

The sun was shining, but wind still howled through Hartford with something of a vengeance. 'Great' Rory thought "Now my gown is going to blow up over my head in the middle of my speech and my cap will blow off, for one of the most exciting days of my life this is shaping out to be potential catastrophe. There was no time to worry however, because at that moment she heard headmaster Charleston announce the speech by the valedictorian, Lorelai Gilmore. "Ugh, I told them to announce me as Rory" she though. Oh well. She stood up and glanced toward the seats where her family was seated and saw Jess stand up and walk to the back of the room. He looked so good in his tux with his hair all gelled up. "Focus Rory' she thought to herself and carefully walked up the stairs onto the stage so as not to fall flat on her face. She reached the podium and looked out over the massive crowd. 'God there are so many' she thought to herself, she truly hated public speaking, and this was the biggest crowd she had ever had to speak in front of before, and if she messed up...'No, focus, don't think about that, just find Jess.' And she did. he was standing in the back of the auditorium, exactly lined up with the podium, just as they had planned. They had practiced this so many times, she would speak as if only to him, looking into his eyes the entire time and trying to block out her fear of public speaking. So she found those beautiful, deep brown eyes that she knew so well, focused all of her energy only on them, and began to speak. "Friends, Faculty, and Parents. I stand before you today...." The rest she didn't even remember, she knew it so well it just flew out of her mouth, exactly the way she wanted it to, yet she took little notice, she just kept her eyes locked on his.

The minute her cap landed back in her hands she was rushed off to find her mom. She was there, in their arranged meeting place that was determined as to not get lost in the throngs of excited and relieved students and faculty. "Mom!!" Rory yelled out "Heeey, Gilmore!!' her mom returned "You were so amazing!! The entire student body and everyone else was completely floored! I believe that uptight office secretary is still up there attempting to remove Charleston's jaw from the floor before he ends up with a high heel induced lip piercing!!" Her mom beamed at her "I'm so proud of you!!" And they hugged so tightly that Rory had to break the hold before she suffocated. "Thanks" she said "I was so nervous!!" It was partly true, she was completely jittery for the first fifteen seconds, but was butterfly free for the rest. "Hey you!!" Rory looked over and saw her dad standing with Sookie, Jackson, Lane and Dave. They all descended on her, each putting in their "You were amazing and "I'm so proud of you", her and Lane hugged so tight they got tangled and fell over. As soon as they all decided to go check out the food situation Rory crowd surfed for the one face she had been longing to see, and there he was. Jess broke through the crowd, holding a coffee mug in his hand. The met eyes and she rushed over to him, but before she could get a word in he kissed her. They stood there kissing for a few moments before they both came up for air. As soon as breaths were re-gained Jess said, "You were absolutely perfect!! I think that was probably the best valedictorian speech ever delivered at this school or any other!" He smiled widely at her "All thanks to you, if You hadn't helped me practice and if we hadn't worked out that little plan of ours I would have been reduced to jelly and swept off the stage." She returned and smiled back "I can't thank you enough." She said and threw her arms around him "I love you" she said "And I you" he replied and they shared another kiss. Things had been so amazing with them, they had been dating for the last seven months and the connection that they shared was so powerful Rory was sometimes amazed at the things that came out of her mouth when she was with him. He just made her feel so safe, and so loved, in a way that she had never felt with Dean, or anyone for that matter.

"Congratulations." came a semi-icy voice from behind them. Rory broke away from their kiss to find Paris Gellar standing behind her with her boyfriend Jamie. "Thank You" Rory replied. Things had been a bit cold between her an Paris, their friendship was strong, but when the results for the running for Valedictorian had been announced Paris took being second really hard. She was disappointed, after all she had once informed Rory that she WOULD be the valedictorian, without a doubt, and there was nothing Rory could do about it. The fact that Rory had come out on top hit her like a ton of bricks, and Rory had received the cold shoulder for the past two weeks, this was actually the first time they had spoken since the results were posted. "I just wanted you to know that I'm not jealous, or mad, I am really happy for you, you beat me, and you deserved it." Paris said "Wow, well that means a lot, Thanks." "So I'll see you tonight, at that celebrating thing in your town, at the inn your mom runs, right?" Paris asked, almost nervously, she was apparently scared that Rory wouldn't want her there. "Of course, I'm so happy you decided to come, and you are of course welcome also" Rory directed this last comment at Jaime "I'll be there" he informed her, and the two of them walked away.

Rory redirected her attention to Jess. "So what is that I see in your hands there mister?" She asked "Well I figured that these people don't serve coffee strong enough to kill a small horse here, so I knew it wouldn't be good enough for you." he joked, she laughed "You are to good to me" She replied, and they walked off to find a good spot. Sitting under the leaves of a weeping willow, drinking their coffee Rory suddenly said "Thank you Jess, for everything, I love you" he smiled that heart stopping smile of his and said "I love you to" but then turned serious "Now Rory, I need you to hold on to that feeling of love, because I need to tell you something" He looked at her "What is it?" he sighed "Well I need to go to New York tonight. My mom called Luke yesterday and told him it was an emergency. So this means that I will have to miss your party" She winced "Oh" she finally replied "Its fine, its no big deal, just a bunch of people gathering for no reason really, you don't have to fell bad" she babbled "I'm sorry, I know you wanted me to be there, and believe me I would be if I could, but I really need to go." now he was babbling "Its ok, really its fine, when do you leave?" Rory asked "Some time about now" Jess said "I really am sorry." "No, its ok really don't fee; bad-" but she was cut off by a yell "Rory, come over here!!! Patty is just itching to pinch your cheeks and tell you how much you've grown, you better get over here fast or the 'when she was a kid' stories will start without you, and you know you wouldn't want to miss the embarrassment!!" "Coming Mom" Rory yelled back. She looked at Jess, and sighed, she really wanted him to be there. "Well have a good trip, I'll miss you" she finally said "I'll miss you to" and they kissed. Rory turned around and headed for her mom. Behind her back Jess made eye contact with Lorelai, and winked, she smiled back 'Rory is going to be so surprised' she thought to herself.
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