A/N: Ana de Armas is the face-claim to Caroline Astor.

While Christy, Rory, and Lorelai were out front Sunday evening, Dylan was in his room with Jack...and Alex.

Jack and Alex were looking over the uniform that Dylan had to wear to Chilton.

Alex held up the tie and held it out, "Here. I think you'll look like a nice businessman wearing this."

Dylan wondered how it was possible to hate and love a guy simultaneously, like how he felt towards Alex.

"Hey, Jack," Alex seemed to be on a roll, "Maybe we should kick Dylan out of the band. His prep school uniform is gonna destroy the look of the band."

There were times when Dylan sometimes wondered if Alex knew that he contributed to Dylan's self-loathing and self-doubts. But maybe Alex had a point...

"Don't be an ass," Jack told Alex.

"Too late," Dylan said.

Alex tossed the tie at Dylan, who managed to catch it.

Dylan looked at the length of the tie. Nice...long. "On the bright side, if I really start feeling the academic pressure, I can use this tie to hang myself with in the locker room. Just hang myself by a showerhead. Yeah, that sounds nice."

"Yeah, aren't you a bundle of storm clouds this evening," Alex said, giving Dylan a strange look before leaving.

Jack looked at Dylan, "Are you okay?"

Dylan nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Jack asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Dylan lied.

Music started blasting from the living room and then Jack left.

Dylan was left alone in his room. It was funny how he wanted them to leave so he could be alone, but once they left he didn't want to be alone.

Dylan grabbed a notebook from the inside of his headboard and flipped it open to a clean page. This notebook was filled with songs that he would never show his band-mates, because he didn't want them to mock him over his songs.

He thought about what Alex said. Maybe it would be better if he was kicked out of the band. He wasn't that great of a singer anyway. He could stand aside and watch as they got famous and he'll probably end up working for his dad's company, stuck in some cubicle working nine-to-five and then go home to a wife who hates him and cheats on him regularly with the neighbor.

He really needed to get out of his head sometimes, but it was hard. It was like one day he woke up like this. He started writing:

I'm stuck inside my head, hoping I can find a new way out,
'Cause all I see is red, with everything you said,
You know you're the source of my self-doubt.

He knew that all he had to do was ask for help, but he couldn't because he didn't know what the hell is wrong with him. He can't tell them because he didn't want to burden anyone with his problems, that is, if any of them actually care about him and aren't just politely tolerating him until he left them alone. So, he just plasters on a fake smile and act like everything was okay.

I can never tell a soul,
I will never let my secrets out,
'Cause nobody can know, I won't let it show.

He set his notebook aside and flopped down on his bed. 

God tomorrow was gonna suck.

"Get up," Rory said, yanking down Dylan's blanket.

Rory usually woke Dylan up, because for some reason, Rory decided that it was her job. Dylan once had an alarm clock, but when it woke him up at the time he set it for, he threw it out the window and went back to bed.

So, Rory took it upon herself (after Dylan received one to many tardies and unexcused absences) to wake Dylan up.

Despite the tardies and unexcused absences, he still somehow managed to get good enough grades to be offered to move up a grade.

It probably had something to do with having an extraordinary memory. Rory was good at memorizing things, but she wasn't as good as Dylan.

(He remembered every single insult that has been hurled his way since elementary school and that was awful.)

So he got dressed while Rory yelled, "Mom!" There must've been a reply, because Rory yelled, "What are you doing?" Then it sounded like Rory repeated, "It's 7:10!" twice.

"God!" that was Christy speaking. "How can you and Dylan sleep like the dead?"

Lorelai slept like the dead, while Dylan slept like he was dead. Actually, if Dylan could sleep forever, he would.

He brushed his teeth, then Lorelai and Rory had to kick him out so Lorelai could get dressed.

He wanted to go back to sleep.

He fell asleep during the ride to Chilton and Christy had to shake him awake so they could look at the school together.

"I remember it being smaller," Rory said.

"Yeah," Christy agreed.

Lorelai started, "And less—"

"Off with their heads," Rory finished.

"I was wondering if Dracula is stashed away somewhere in there," Dylan said.

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed and tilted her head, looking up at the building.

Rory asked, "What are you looking at?"

"I'm just trying to see if there's a hunchback up in that bell tower," Lorelai stated.

"Oh," Christy said, leaning forward to look at the school.

Rory asked, "So, how do I look?"

"You look great," Lorelai said. "You two back there as well."

Dylan grunted, "I don't. I feel like a freak. Well, more freak-ish than normal."

Rory asked, "Really?"

"Yes," Dylan replied.

"I meant the whole looking great thing," Rory told him.

"You three do," Lorelai said. "You three are amazing. You have earned this."

Dylan didn't believe her, at least, he didn't believe the whole 'looking great thing'. "Not with how Grandma and Grandpa bribed my ass to get me in there."

Lorelai said, "Yeah, well, you just go in there and show them what smart really is. I love you three. Just call me if you need me."

Christy said, "You have to go in there with us."

"Christy, come on," Lorelai said.

"You have to meet the headmaster," Rory stated.

"Well, look at me," Lorelai said. "I can't meet anybody who does anything in there."

"Maybe the headmaster will dig the clown rodeo look," Dylan stated. "Some people have to be into that." He looked at Lorelai's tie-dye pink v-neck shirt and cutoff shorts.

"Dylan!" snapped Lorelai.

Rory started, "Mom!"

"No, I look like that chick from the Dukes of Hazzard," Lorelai said.

"Jeremy says that Daisy Duke is a total babe," Dylan said, referring to Cecilia's younger brother. At least, the few occasions Dylan saw the guy.

"This is our first day," Rory said. "You are not getting out of going in there with us. Period."

"Oh, no, she said 'period,'" Christy said. "That means she's being serious."

"If I have to go in there looking like this, you can go in there with us looking like that," Dylan told Lorelai. He was sure that he was beginning to develop a rash from the preppy clothes.

They got out of the jeep. Dylan grabbed his black backpack, while Christy got her blue polka-dotted backpack that had a mustache and the words French mustache on one pocket and one pocket had a bowler hat, two dots for eyes, and a mustache on it. There were three buttons on it.

"Good morning," Lorelai greeted two women.

The two women gave Lorelai a very judgmental look before walking away, most likely still judging Lorelai's clothes.

"Oh, well, we're gonna be best friends," Lorelai told her kids, as she pulled on a coat. They walked towards the school.

Christy asked Rory, "So, which building do we have to go to?"

Rory looked at a piece of paper, "Uh, the Ambroise building."

Lorelai asked, "Which is?"

"The big, scary one," Rory stated.

"All of them are big, scary buildings," Christy said.

"That one is kind of large and intimidating though," Dylan said, pointing at the building.

A man asked, "Lost?"

"Oh, yeah," Lorelai said. "Uh, we're looking for the headmaster's office, the Ambroise building."

"Ah, okay," the man said. "Well, this is it right here. You just go inside, down the stairs, make a left and the headmaster's office is at the end of the hall."

"Great," Lorelai said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the man said.

Rory grabbed Lorelai's arm but the man extended his hand, "Um, I'm Ian Jack. My daughter, Julia, goes to school here."

Lorelai shook his head, "Hi. I'm Lorelai Gilmore. Um, these are my daughters Rory and Christy, and this is my son, Dylan."

Ian seemed shocked, "Your kids? Really?"

"Yup," Lorelai said, smiling, "Triplets."

"Wow, that's great," Ian said. "Uh, I mean, kids are a great thing."

"We're big fans," Lorelai replied, grinning. "That's why I had three." She chuckled.

"Yeah, uh, yeah," Ian said. "So, is your husband here? I'd love to meet him."

"I'm not married," Lorelai said.

Dylan looked at his sisters, who looked back at him. This entire encounter was going to forever live in his memory.

"Ah," Ian replied.

"I'd love to meet your wife, though," Lorelai told Ian.

The triplets were clearly thinking the same thing: are you kidding me?

"I'm divorced," Ian said.

"Shame," Lorelai replied.

"Yeah," Ian said.

"We really got to go," Christy stated, with Rory grabbing Lorelai's arm.

"Right!" Lorelai said to Ian, "We gotta go meet the big guy."

"I hope you're not talking about God," Dylan muttered.

"The headmaster," Lorelai clarified, "And I gotta, uh, get back to work."

The four started walking away.

Ian asked, "Oh, where do you work?"

Lorelai went back to him, "At an inn. The Independence Inn. I run it."

Ian asked, "Really?"

"In a different outfit, of course," Lorelai said.

Christy pushed Dylan forward a little. "Go scare him off."

Dylan was confused and asked, "Why?"

"You're kind of scary," Rory told him. "Go talk to him."

Dylan didn't understand how his sisters thought he was scary. He wasn't like Jack, who was kind of creepy looking if you didn't know him.

Ian was laughing at what Lorelai said, "Well, it was nice to meet you, Lorelai." To the three teens, he said, "Good luck in school, Rory, Christy, and Dylan. I'll tell Julia to look out for you three."

"Great, thanks," Rory stated.

Ian said, "See you." He walked away.

Lorelai stared after him, smiling to herself. She said, "What a nice, nice man."

Dylan didn't see how Lorelai found Ian attractive. The man wasn't hot, but he seemed to be a bit creepy, and not in the creepy hot way that Jack kind of pulled off.

Christy asked, "Should I get a mirror to show you how you look?" Rory nodded in agreement.

Lorelai stopped smiling, "I'm back. Let's go."

They headed inside the Ambroise building, which was rather large inside.

Lorelai said, "Oh, good, more big stuff."

Dylan asked, "How long do you think it'll take me before I trip and fall down these stairs?"

"I give it a week," Christy said as they walked down the stairs.

"Give him some credit," Rory started. "I give him two weeks." When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Rory said, "Turn left."

They walked past three girls and down the hallway towards the headmaster's office, finally reaching the double doors.

Lorelai asked, "You ready?"

"No," Rory and Dylan said at the same time.

Rory gave him a look, because she hated it when they spoke at the same time. She said that they needed to stop 'synchronizing' with each other since it was weird.

Lorelai repeated, "You ready?"

"Yes," Rory said.

"No," Dylan said.

Lorelai and Rory pushed the doors open anyway and walked into the room and walked up to the secretary's desk.

Lorelai cleared her throat, but the secretary didn't even look up. She said, "Um, excuse me." The secretary suddenly looked up at them and Lorelai jumped back. "Oh! How...wow, hi. I'm Lorelai Gilmore, these are my kids, Lorelai... 'cause I named her after me. This one is Christine, named after her father. This one is Dylan, we couldn't think of a name for him and it was a placeholder name that popped into his dad's head and it stuck. I was all whacked out on Demerol. Never mind. Um, but we call these two Rory and Christy. Its short for their names, but they'll answer to either one or even 'hey, you' depending on the—"

"Mom," Dylan interrupted.

Lorelai said, "Uh, is the headmaster here?"

The secretary stood up, "One moment." They walked through a door that was behind them.

Lorelai whispered, "See, that's what happens when you go to bed with your makeup on."

"I usually break out," Christy told her.

The door opened.

"Headmaster Charleston will see you now," the secretary told them.

"Great, great, thanks," Lorelai said.

They walked into the headmaster's office.

"Ms Gilmore," the headmaster greeted. "I'm Headmaster Charleston."

"Hi," Lorelai greeted. "Wow, it's really nice to meet – Mom. Um, excuse me." She went over to Emily, "What are you doing here?"

Rory looked extremely flustered, not that Dylan blamed her. It was rather embarrassing.

"I came to wish my grandkids luck on their first day of school," Emily replied.

Lorelai started, "But—"

"You three, you look wonderful in that uniform!" Emily stated, going over to her grandkids.

"I feel like a clown," Dylan muttered, not believing the compliment. It was something that he did: don't believe the compliments, but believe the insults full force.

"Uh, you didn't have to come all the way out here, Mom," Lorelai said to Emily.

"I thought Chilton was five minutes away from their house," Christy stated.

"That is true," Dylan said to her.

"Yeah, well, this gave me a chance to make sure that Hanlin here takes good care of Rory, Christy, and Dylan," Emily replied to Lorelai.

"You're Hanlin," Lorelai said to the headmaster.

"Hanlin Charleston," the headmaster replied.

"Hanlin's wife and I are on the symphony fundraising committee together," Emily said.

"Wow, that's great," Lorelai said.

"Your father and I are golf rivals. We're still fighting it out to see which one is worse," Headmaster Charleston told Lorelai.

Dylan tuned them out, only tuning back in when he heard Emily saying, "Hanlin, did you know that Rory has a 4.0 grade average, Christy has a 3.9 grade average, and that Dylan was considered on being moved up a grade? He's even taking Harvard level math."

It looked like Lorelai had taken her overcoat off.

"I'm sure he does, Mom," Lorelai replied.

"The three of them are very special kids, you take good care of them," Emily said to the headmaster.

"We'll do our best, Emily," the headmaster said.

Lorelai said, "Rory and Christy aren't going to be a problem, they're totally low maintenance, you know, like a Honda. Dylan is a bit rough around the edges but once you manage to get him talking, he'll never stop, you know, they're just...just...nice office." She trailed off.

Emily said to Charleston, "I don't think we should take up anymore of your precious time. It was lovely to see you. Give Bitty our love.

"Tell Richard I'll see him at the club Sunday," Charleston said.

"Have a wonderful day, you three. I want to hear all about it," Emily said to the triplets. To Lorelai, she spoke, "Do you need a ride or is your horse parked outside?" She left the office.

Dylan tried not to laugh at that, even though he knew it was rude and he normally didn't like how Emily talked to Lorelai.

"It's so nice to meet you," Lorelai said, shaking hands with the headmaster. She kissed Rory's forehead, kissed Christy on the cheek, and patted Dylan on the shoulder. "Have a great day." She went to leave.

"Oh, you don't want to forget your coat," Charleston called after her.

"Oh, no, 'cause that would be embarrassing," Lorelai said, taking her coat and leaving.

Christy and Rory took some seats at the desk while Dylan sat on the couch that was by the desk.

The headmaster looked through the transcript folders.

"You three are obviously bright kids," the headmaster told them..

"Thank you," Rory said.

"Good grades, the teachers like you," Charleston said. "Rory, you don't have a lot of social activities, though."

"Oh, well, just living in Stars Hollow is kind of a social activity, actually," Rory said.

"It says here that Christine is part of the book club and creative writing club, while Dylan is part of the math club, the academic decathlon, and works part time at Weston's Bakery," Charleston pointed out to Rory.

Dylan wanted to say that he was more forced into joining the math club and academic decathlon because the principal realized how smart he actually was and wanted to win a trophy for the school, even if it wasn't non-sports like he wanted.

Charleston asked Rory, "Nothing in your school appealed to you?"

Rory explained, "I work at my mother's inn after school sometimes. And I was in the German Club for a while, but there were only three of us, and then two left for the French Club after seeing Schindler's List, so..."

The headmaster asked, "What are your aspirations?"

"I want to go to Harvard and study Journalism and Political Science," Rory said.

Charleston asked, "On your way to being...?"

"Christiane Amanpour," Rory replied.

Charleston looked at Christy and Dylan, "Do you two plan on going to Harvard like your sister?"

"Oh, I was thinking of being an aerospace engineer," Christy said. "Maybe go to M.I.T. or Yale."

Charleston looked at Dylan.

I didn't think I was going to make it this far, Dylan thought. He said, "I want to be a singer in a metal band. I kind of want to create my own festival like Ozzfest." Charleston stared at him, as if he was thinking, this kid has got to be freaking kidding me. So Dylan backtracked, "I'm kidding. I want to be a veterinarian." There. That was more socially acceptable apparently.

Headmaster Charleston seemed to mull it over as he looked over Dylan's transcript. "You certainly have a lot of tardies and absences from the beginning of the school year."

"I tend to sleep in a lot," Dylan replied.

"May I suggest an alarm clock, because that won't fly well over here," Charleston replied.

"He had one," Rory said.

Charleston looked at Dylan, who replied, "I threw it out the window."

"But we'll make sure that he wakes up on time," Christy said.

And by 'we' she means Rory.

Charleston continued, "It says here that your teachers say that they wish you didn't hold back in your academics and it says that you declined being moved up a grade. Why is that?"

"Ah, well, my sisters and I were born together, so we'll graduate together," Dylan stated. "That's just how it is."

Rory and Christy nodded.

The headmaster seemed to think that over, "I've known your grandparents for quite some time."

"We know," Rory replied.

"In fact, I was at a party at their house just last week where I had the most delicious lobster puffs I've ever eaten. I've very fond of them," Headmaster Charleston stated.

"I like the crab cakes," Dylan stated.

"And I like the lobster bisque," Christy added.

"None of this, however, will be of any benefit to you three," Charleston said, "Chilton has one of the highest academic standards of any school in America. You three may have been the smartest kids at Stars Hollow, but this is a different place. The pressures are greater, the rules are stricter which means that there is a limit to tardies and unexcused absences so you better buy an alarm clock," He directed that to Dylan, "and the expectations are higher. If you make it through, you will have received one of the finest educations one can get, and there should be no reason why you should not achieve all your goals. However, since you are starting late and are not used to this highly competitive atmosphere, there is a good chance you will fail. That is fine. Failure is a part of life, but not a part of Chilton," the headmaster told them, "Understand?"

"Message received," Christy stated, looking a little intimidated.

Dylan nodded, although he was sure that the headmaster wasn't speaking about his metal band aspirations. "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage that counts. Winston Churchill said that."

Charleston nodded, "That he did."

Rory stated, "So, you liked the lobster puffs, huh?"

The headmaster handed them their folders. "Take these to Miss James in the administration office across the hall."

"Have a good day," Dylan told him.

They left the office and went to the administration office. After some kid got done at the desk, they walked up to a woman at the desk and Rory set down her folder.

"Hi, we're looking for Miss James," Rory said.

Miss James asked, "Names?"

"Lorelai, Christine, and Dylan Gilmore, but I go by Rory and she goes by Christy," Rory told Miss James.

"Fill this out, please," Miss James stated, setting down some papers and slapping down a pen on the pieces of paper that they were handed.

Dylan thought it was rather rude of her to do that.

They took their papers and went to sit at a table.

"Well?"

"Shut up."

"Hurry. Please. Spiders."

"Lorelai Gilmore."

"Nice stripper name."

"Christine Gilmore."

"Boring."

"Dylan Gilmore."

"Also boring."

"Three formerly of Stars Hollow High School."

"Where's that?"

"Make a left at the haystacks and follow the cows."

"Ooh, Dixie kids."

"One has a perfect attendance, 4.0 grade point average. The other girl has good attendance, but a 3.9 grade point average. The boy has somewhat shaky attendance but a 3.9 grade point average. Apparently he holds back academically, because he was recommended to be moved up a grade and he refused."

"Bugs, dirt, twigs."

"One girl is a journalist major."

"That means she's going out for the school paper."

"Not necessarily. The other one is an aerospace engineering major."

"Ooh, a space chick."

"The boy is a veterinary science major."

"An animal lover."

"The two girls got a thousand recommendations in here."

"Popular with the adults and one going out for the paper?"

"Will you stop? You don't know that she's going out for the paper."

"Quiet down."

"I hate nature."

"They'll never catch up. They're a month behind."

"You can tutor them. Be like a big sister."

"You're funny. Besides, they have each other."

"Okay, lizard, goodbye."

"Why are they letting all these people in? They just take up space and screw up the curve. We don't need any new kids here."

"Too late."

Miss James passed them papers, "Here's the dining room, the science hall, and the theater. Here's your locker numbers, here's your schedules, take these maps. Here's the rules of the school and the Chilton Honor Code. Here are the words to the school song, which must be recited upon demand. This can happen any place, any time. If you do it in Latin you get extra credit."

Dylan imagined some teacher demanding him to sing the song in the restroom. Nope. That was too weird.

Christy asked, "When are we allowed to sleep?"

Miss James didn't look impressed.

"Uh, we don't have any questions at the moment," Dylan said.

"If you do, you can make an appointment to see your guidance counselor, Mr. Winters," Miss James said. "He handles everything but bulimia and pregnancy. For that, you'll have to go to the nurse or Coach Rubens. Welcome to Chilton."

They took their papers and left the administration office. They compared schedules to see what classes they had together. They had English, world literature, and history class together. They had been spilt up at Stars Hollow High, but Dylan guessed since that he was shoe-horned in at the last minute, he was going to share a class with his sisters. 

In their English class, the teacher, Mr. Medina was lecturing, "And while French culture was the dominant outside culture influence, especially for Russia's monied class, English culture also had its impact. Tolstoy's favorite author, for instance, was..."

"Dickens," a blonde girl said, raising her hand.

Mr. Medina said, "Yes, and of course, last week, we discovered Dostoevsky's main authorial influences..."

"George Sand and Balzac," the blonde girl said, raising her hand again.

"Good." Mr. Medina continued, "As Tolstoy commenced writing both War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Count Leo would turn to..."

"David Copperfield," Christy stated quickly, with her hand raised.

"Correct," Mr. Medina said. "He would turn to David Copperfield for inspiration."

The door opened and a student walked in. Dylan looked at the guy. He was a generic white guy, but he was attractive and clearly an asshole.

"Ah, Mr. Dugray," Mr. Medina greeted.

"Sir," Dugray said, handing the teacher a note.

"Nice to have you back," Mr. Medina stated. "I hope your grandfather's better."

"Much better, sir," Dugray replied. He walked over to the desk, but he stared at Christy and Rory. It looked like both girls squirmed a little in their seats.

Dugray whispered, "Who are they?"

"New kids," a guy replied.

"Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Little Dorrit, all major influences on Leo Tolstoy. Tomorrow we focus on the writing styles of these two literary masters, Tolstoy and Dickens," Mr. Medina explained. The bell rang. "Class dismissed."

"Looks like we got ourselves a couple of Marys," Dugray stated.

Mr. Medina called out, "Mr. and Miss, um, Gilmores, could you come up here please?"

The triplets went up to the teacher. "Here are last week's study materials." He passed Rory a huge binder. "There'll be a test on them tomorrow, but since you three are new, you can take a makeup on Monday. Will that be sufficient time?"

Rory asked, "Monday? Sure, that's fine with me. I'm not sure about the other two, though." She looked at her siblings.

"Yeah, Monday works with me," Christy said.

Dylan nodded, "Yeah, that's fine with me."

"Good," Mr. Medina said. "That's just an overview. It would be very helpful to you to borrow one of the other student's personal notes. They tend to be more detailed."

Rory was incredulous, "More detailed than this?"

"You can bludgeon me to death with this," Dylan said, looking at the binder.

Mr. Medina gave Dylan a strange look.

Rory gave Dylan a look that basically said, 'Shut up, you're embarrassing me.'

"Ignore my brother," Rory told Mr. Medina. "He says things to try and shock people."

"Yeah, it seems daunting right now, I know," Mr. Medina told them.

"It's fine," Christy said.

"Remember to get those notes," Mr. Medina stated. "They'll be a lifesaver."

"Okay," Dylan said, trying to think of anyone who seemed nice enough to loan him their notes.

They left the classroom.

Rory hissed at Dylan, "Really? Kill someone?"

Christy stopped in her tracks, "Oh, my god, where did you come from?"

There was a blonde girl who Dylan thought resembled a candlestick.

"I'm Paris," the girl said.

"We didn't see you there," Rory said. "Where'd you come from?"

"I know who you are too." Paris recited, "Lorelai, Christine, and Dylan Gilmore from Stars Hollow."

"You can call me Rory and she's Christy," Rory corrected Paris.

Paris ignored Rory, "Are any of you three going out for The Franklin?"

Rory asked, "The what?"

"Nice innocent act," Paris mocked, "At least I know you're not going for drama club."

Dylan asked, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Paris said, "The Franklin, the school paper. Are any of you going out for it?"

"I don't know," Rory replied. "We have to find our lockers first."

"I'm gonna be editor next year," Paris stated.

"Congratulations," Dylan told her. He and Christy walked on while Rory dealt with Paris.

It looked like Dugray was trying to hit on Christy, but Christy clearly wasn't having any of it.

"So, I'll take the notes because you offered, but I'm not going to screw you if that's what you're insinuating. However, I want you to take these notes from me: if you think that virgin-shaming my sister and me is 'flirting', then you're much more of an asshole than you come off as. Besides, haven't you ever heard of 'don't judge a book by its cover' because I'm not even a virgin," Christy told Dugray.

Dylan went to his locker and opened it since he memorized the combination. He tossed in his English book and notebook because he was finished with that stuff.

A girl with brown hair and green eyes came up to him. She offered him a large binder, "Here. These are my English notes. I think it'll help you and your sisters out."

Dylan took the binder gratefully, "Thanks."

The next class Dylan had was history with Ms. Ness.

He took a seat at a desk and then Dugray came in and Dylan looked at him.

Christy walked in and sat at a desk next to Dylan.

"Hello, Mary," Dugray greeted Christy.

Dylan turned to look at Dugray, "The hell did you call my sister?"

Paris walked in, looking irritated. She went to two girls.

"What happened to you?" asked the blonde girl.

"Their sister happened," Paris said, motioning to Dylan and Christy. Rory walked in. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

The bell rang.

"Seats now, please," Ms. Ness said.

Rory sat down next to Christy.

"Hey, Other Mary," Dugray greeted.

Dylan felt irritated, which was better than nothing, "I will literally pay you money to shut the hell up."

"Okay, class, settle down," Ms. Ness said. "We left out project off on Friday with Mr. Gaynor, so today we will pick up with Miss Gellar."

Paris stood up, "I don't have my project."

Ms. Ness said, "Miss Gellar, did you have sufficient time to complete your project?"

"Yes," Paris replied.

"And yet you don't have it done?" asked Ms. Ness.

"Nope," replied Paris.

Ms. Ness said, "All right, you will receive an incomplete for this project."

Dylan started to zone out again, before tuning back in.

"As long as you're standing..." Ms. Ness said, "Class, we have three new students. Say hello to Rory, Christine, and Dylan Gilmore."

"Hi, Rory, Christine, and Dylan," the class said, sounding bored.

"Hello, Marys," Dugray said.

"I will literally pay you money to stay from my sisters," Dylan said.

Dugray looked at Dylan, "Cut your hair, you look like a girl."

"Keep spewing shit, you look like an asshole," Dylan replied. 

"Boys, knock it off before I write you up," Ms. Ness chided.

"Sorry," Dylan replied. Ms. Ness looked at him, "Sorry, Ms. Ness."

Ms. Ness looked at Dugray, who said, "Sorry, Ms. Ness."

She moved on to the projects and Dylan started dwelling on the 'you look like a girl' comment.

Dylan knew he shouldn't dwell on it, but he couldn't help it and figured that maybe he should cut his hair. 

After school, Dylan trudged outside, the girl in his English class, Caroline, had given him her history notes, so it was nice.

Rory and Christy both spotted their mother and went to hug her. Dylan went over to them.

Christy and Rory had released Lorelai.

"So, I brought us some coffee," Lorelai said.

"There's a shock," Christy said.

"Triple caps, easy foam," Lorelai said.

"Wow," Rory replied.

"And if that doesn't work, we'll just stick a butter knife in a light socket like Dylan did when he was four." Lorelai said, "Come here." She picked up Rory's backpack and staggered under the weight. "Wow. What do they expect you to get smart all in one day?"

"They expect a hell of a lot out of us," Christy said.

"Well, so tell me," Lorelai said.

They got in the jeep.

"I don't know," Rory started.

"It was one hell of a year today," Dylan said. "I swear, it's like they wanna watch us drown."

"Yeah," Rory agreed. "It was just one big, long, scary, tweedy, bad eight hours."

"Add some hair spray and you've got my day," Lorelai said.

"One of the girls already hates me, the guys are weird," Rory said.

"Weirder than other guys?" asked Lorelai.

"Yeah, they kept calling and Christy Mary," Rory said.

"It was actually just one guy and he's an asshole," Dylan said.

"I can't believe they still say that," Lorelai said.

"Why?" asked Rory, "What does it mean?"

"Mary, like Virgin Mary," Lorelai said. "It means they think you and Christy look like goody-goodies."

"You're kidding," Rory said.

"No," replied Lorelai.

Rory asked, "Well, what would they have called me if they thought Christy and I looked like sluts?"

"Well, they might have added a Madalene to it," Lorelai said.

"Wow, biblical insults," Rory said. "This is an advanced school."

Dylan ended up getting a haircut, to where his hair was at least shoulder-length instead.

Alex was disgusted, "Why did you cut your hair?"

Dylan wasn't sure if Alex was disgusted at the new length or at him. Knowing Alex, he was probably disgusted at Dylan. "A bunch of guys said I looked like a girl."

Ricky looked incredulous, "And so you let these assholes get under your skin?"

It was easy for them to say, because Dylan knew that his brain was imbalanced.

"Yeah," Dylan replied. "It's all my fault."

"Not really," Mai said, coming over to sit next to him on the couch. She put one hand on Dylan's shoulder, "I get it. People are dicks. All you need to do is kick them there."

"Ha," replied Dylan. He just wanted to go to bed.

Cecilia was eyeing Mai's hand on Dylan's shoulder, "You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," Dylan said. "I'll be fine. Just got too bothered by it, that's all." It wasn't his fault that he was crumbling from his self-hatred.

"Well, next time get their names so I can egg their cars," Alex said, watching as Mai started messing with Dylan's hair.

Dylan asked Mai, "What are you doing?"

"Wondering how your hair is so soft," Mai told him.

"Well, stop, that's weird," Cecilia replied.

Mai removed her hand.

"Can we move from this subject?" Dylan said, "I'm fine."

Now if only he can get himself to believe it.