Chapter Text
Crisp autumn morning air that slowly but surely became colder with each passing day, filled Grace’s lungs when she was on her way to Luke's. Immediately after seeing her friend sitting, drinking coffee through the diner’s window a mischievous smile appeared on Grace's face and a plan formed in her mind. When Grace walked through the door she waved at her friend with a mannerism only seen in period films or read about in Jane Austin's novels.
With a spring in her step and an even broader smile the English girl went over to her friend, abruptly stopped and bowed gracefully, holding up the skirt of her uniform and mockingly said “Good morning to you my lady.” “Please stop!” cried Rory as Grace slid in the seat next to her. “What harsh words you use, my lady!” continued her mocking Grace.
At this moment, the diner's owner came by with a cup and a pot of freshly brewed coffee that burned and a thick smell filled the air. “Do I even want to know?” said Luke, glancing at both girls with his “I’m done with my life” signature expression.
“Well, thank you kind sir.” responded Grace taking a sip of her coffee. “You're never gonna live this down, aren't you?” said Rory looking at her friend and considering moving to another table just to get away from Grace.
At this moment, Jess emerged from behind the curtain that stood between the staircase leading to Luke's and his apartment and the rest of the diner. As Grace saw him her eyes glimmered and a new jest came to her mind. Grace covered her mouth as if she was in great shock and exclaimed “My lady, you ought not to come here alone! Don't you know crazy barbarians are roaming in this area!” When she said the word “barbarians” she pointed at Jess who, just like his uncle, was confused at the girl's peculiar behaviour.
“Are you done?” answered Rory with a roll of her eyes, but nonetheless a smile playing on her lips. “In fact, I'm. Now you can applaud.” said Grace bowing as if she was an actress on the stage of the theatre after giving the performance of her life. “And to answer your question, yes. I'm never going to live this down” added Grace, smiling. “You're a lady now!” “Stop it!” moaned Rory. Grace’s laughter filled the air, making some of the customers glance at them and Luke rolling his eyes. Friendly chatter and conversations continued between two girls all the way to Chilton where, unfortunately, they had to part ways, not sharing the first class.
The first part of the day passed in a blur of hard work and learning all the information teachers tried to drill into their heads, with various results. Here came the lunch break, Rory and Grace sat at their usual table not really forcing themselves to converse and simply enjoy books they were currently reading. Their peace did not last long, broken, not by their loud peers, but by the school secretary. The representative of the school’s faculty told them that they both are awaited by the school counselor and it would be best if the meetings were conducted immediately.
Rory was the first one to enter the office behind heavy and dark mahogany doors, leaving Grace nervously picking at her lips, her heart filled with anticipation and fear, even though she didn’t recall doing something rebellious. Well except the pins adoring the tie of her uniform.
Rory’s meeting took exactly 10 minutes, Grace was painfully aware of every second of those 10 minutes as she stared at the clock hanging right above the doors to the counselor’s office. Rory emerged from behind the door, of which Grace knew every detail by now, Rory’s face was twisted in a scowl. Although there was no time for Rory to report the topic of the meeting as she had to get to her class, which had already started, Grace knew it wasn’t a pleasantly spent 10 minutes. Rory’s face said it all. However, Grace didn’t have much time to dwell on the course of her friend's meeting as she heard her name being called out from behind the doors. Before she entered, she had given Rory a reassuring smile and then disappeared behind the doors.
“Hello, Miss Floyd.” said the counselor with a friendly smile. “Take a seat, please.” added the woman pointing at a chair in front of her. Grace made herself comfortable in the chair and said a meek “Hello.”. “You are probably wondering, why did I call you to my office.” continued the woman, her smile not flattering even for a second. Grace only smiled in response, words stuck in her throat. “Well, I can say for sure, you are not in any trouble…” this earned a louder than she’d like, sigh from Grace. “However, the faculty noticed you haven’t signed up for any of the extracurricular courses our school offers. You’ve been, here, at Chilton for quite some time now and I’m sure you’ve made yourself at home. Our school wants to ensure the best education and for that choosing at least one extra activity is mandatory” explained the counselor, making Grace's smile flee from her face, becoming smaller and smaller with each passing second. “Here is the list of all the courses. Please, look through it today. And, I see you get along with Rory. How about joining the school newspaper team, huh? It doesn’t sound so bad now, does it? I want you to look around this week and choose at least one, until the end of the week, okay?”.
Grace was less than happy, knowing she’ll have to stay after school and do extra work, but it’s not like she has a choice in this matter anyway. “Of course!” said Grace. “That's all, thank you for your time. And remember to look around, okay?” concluded the woman letting Grace carry on with her day. “I will, goodbye.” said Grace already halfway through the door and wanting nothing more than to just go home.
After giving the list a thorough look and much consideration, weighing pros and cons in her head, Grace decided to talk to Paris, whether she had a vacant position in the newspaper. Back in London, in her previous school, Grace was an active member of the newspaper, especially in the film reviews column. However, she wasn’t sure if Chilton’s newspaper had such a column, so she decided she needed to go straight to the source, Paris.
“Hi, Paris. How are you!” said Grace, stopping by the locker next to Paris’, who was putting her books in there. “Stop wasting my time and get straight to the point.” answered Paris, slamming the locker’s door and making Grace jump a little. “Right… I was thinking about joining “The Franklin” and was curious whether you had an open spot!" said Grace trailing behind the girl in Chilton’s maze of corridors. “I don’t need another lousy member, we work hard there. And do you even know how to write?” said Paris, abruptly stopping at one of the classroom’s doors, behind which the heart of “The Franklin” was hidden. “In fact, I was a member of a school’s newspaper in my old school and worked on reviews of films and plays, and I’ll gladly do that for “The Franklin ".” answered Grace, not put off by the other girl’s gruff demeanor. “Okay, we have another meeting on Wednesday, write a review and I’ll see if you are worth working with me.” concluded Paris. “Thank you!” said Grace, already walking away, hoping that this conversation won’t cost her taking the later bus.
Grace was in luck as the Stars Hollow one and only cinema was screening, a classic she had watched multiple times before. This made it much easier to write a detailed review of “The Wizard of Oz” .
The film was supposed to start at 7 pm and when Grace arrived it was already a quarter to seven. Her first impression was disappointing to say the least. There were 2 sofas and a few armchairs in front of a medium sized screen and a projector in between the seats. The place was so small the counter was right next to the seats. Her expectations were nonexistent and yet, somehow she was not so pleasantly surprised upon seeing the state of so called cinema. At least they sold snacks so she won't have to starve through the picture.
“Hi… Kirk! One ticket please and some of that candy, please.” said Grace, putting on her best smile and avoiding direct eye contact with the storage man in front of her. “Good, we have a wide selection of various sweet foods here, which would satisfy you?” said Kirk folding his hands and looking straight at the girl in front of him, showing no emotions showing on his face. “Uhh, the red ones… and M&M, please.” said Grace pointing at the candy. “Great choice, I personally prefer the skittles, but it must be the English way.” said Kirk, preparing the sweets for Grace. “Hmm” hummed the girl. “The picture starts in 10 minutes. Make yourself comfortable.” concluded Kirk.
Grace did make herself comfortable on one of the sofas and waited. Waited, 10 minutes of sitting and feeling Kirk’s gaze on her back, in complete silence, and no one came in. At last, the film started and Grace finally could stop thinking about the strange man behind her and sink deeper in the red sofa so soft it was practically swallowing her.
The first forty minutes went by smoothly without any interruptions or technical malfunctions, which shocked Grace a bit. Unfortunately her peace and focus on the film didn’t last much longer as the door of the cinema opened a little making a sound and a boy with messy black hair slowly entered. The boy was very lucky as Kirk has just gone to the toilet and there was no one to stop him from sitting next to the girl, so engrossed in the film and oblivious of the presence of the boy.
“Do you think they show any films made after 1950?” said Jess taking the empty seat next to the girl. “Bloody hell!” exclaimed Grace, jumping a little startled by Jess’ voice and wishing she sat on one of the free chairs behind her. “Shhh, I came here to watch something!” said Grace, sitting as far as possible from the boy. “By that you mean watch someone being actively poisoned with lead on an old bedsheet.” commented Jess not fazed by the girl’s hostile behaviour. “Yes, I have to write a review so they’ll accept me in the newspaper so I won’t have to join the Hartford History Society or even worse a sports team!” said Grace getting more agitated by the boy and the stupid Chilton policy.
Their little conversation was cut short by Kirk coming out of the toilet and immediately spotting Jess. “Hey, you! Luke’s nephew! You can’t be here if you didn’t buy a ticket and we stopped selling them about forty minutes ago!” exclaimed Kirk. “It’s my cue to go. See you around, Anthony Lane.” said Jess, putting his hand in the pockets of his jacked and leisurely taking steps toward the exit and making Grace smile. The boy looked back at Grace once and saw the back of her hair as she put her focus back on the film.