"So how's it going with Paris?" I asked Rory as we sat on the couch in her living room at the tv played an episode of Full House. We were waiting for our order of food for lunch. Our mums both had to work that Saturday so we both decided to have a day in.

She swallowed down whatever piece of chocolate she had in her mouth before responding to me. "Other than the fact that she tired to have me impeached from the student government, got me in a whole lot of trouble with Headmaster Charleston and almost beheaded me during fencing, I'd say we're doing pretty good." She said sarcastically.

"I guess that means she's still mad at you," I stated with a wince. The feud between the two was becoming so out of hand that it has physically drained me to stand in the same room as the two at the same time.

"As mad as Stephanie is at Michelle," Rory agreed as she jutted her chin out in the direction of the tv.

I break of a row of chocolate from the bar before popping it in my mouth. "To be fair," I began, "You kind of deserve it."

"Hey!" Rory protested with a frown my way. "I told you, Francine tricked me!"

"Yeah, but did you really have to tell her about Jamie?" I question with my gaze still on the tv. "That was a bad move."

Rory pushed my shoulder with hers lightly. "Stop it," she groaned. "You're making me feel worse than I already do."

"But you know how Paris is," I explained slowly, hoping that Rory got the message.

"Crazy, bloodthirsty, and absolutely deranged?" Rory commented in distaste toward the girl in question. Okay, so maybe she didn't get the message.

"Don't forget to add 'out for revenge'," I joke with a small smile. "But in all seriousness, she probably doesn't have many real friends so she probably felt super betrayed."

She waved her hand in the air to dismiss my comments. "Can we stop with the Rory hate train?" She remarked as I held my hand up in surrender.

"I'm done."

Rory turned her body to face me. "On a brighter note," she began excitedly which caught my interest quickly. "Guess what?"

"They're making another Rocky movie?" I guessed with a grin.

She shook her head at me. "Nope, guess again."

"John Mayer released a new album that I somehow don't know about?" I tried again, I knew that this was very unlikely.

"Nope," she told me. "I'm-"

I cut her off with another guess. "I got it!" I exclaim. "Kirk set fire to the-"

"Let me finish," Rory threw a pillow in my face as I let out a groan. I sat up straight, signalling for her to continue. "I think I'm going to Yale." She told me excitedly. A wide grin on her face with her eyes wide in excitement.

Shit, she still thinks I'm going to Yale. I didn't tell her about Columbia, despite coming to the realisation months ago. "What?" I asked nervously.

"Don't tell my mum. I'm afraid she'll freak out," Rory says. "But I think I'll go to Yale. I mean, if I get accepted." She adds the last part with a light laugh. She looked to me, hoping to see the same excitement that was in her eyes mirrored on my face.

"That's great!" I forced out of me with a wide smile. "How did this come about? I mean you've always talked about Harvard."

That was when Rory dived into an in depth explanation about why Yale was the right choice for her. Number one on her list was the fact that is was closer to home. I remember Jess telling me it was only 22.8 miles from Stars Hollow.

Another thing she said was that it had amazing classes and her grandparents were alumni's there. So she wanted to continue the Gilmore legacy and make her family proud.

Last, but definitely not least, she said it was because of me. Cue the insane amount of guilt that crushed me like a brick wall. She talked about how much fun the two of us would have there together and how she could already see it in her head. As she went on, I thought of the many ways I could break the news to her. One things for sure, I had to do it soon. But not today, not when she was so excited and happy.

"Uh, Rory," I began when she had finally stopped talking. "We haven't even gotten our acceptance letters back yet, so many could change." I tried to warn her subtly.  

"I know that," Rory said with a glance towards her lap where she fidgeted with her fingers. "I'm just saying, I think if I had the choice I would choose Yale."  She told me firmly as if there was nothing I could do to change her mind. "The letters should be back any day now, anyway."

"Look, I just wanna put one thing out there." I tell as I tried to avoid her ecstatic bright blue eyes. "You're not going there because of me right?"

"You wish," Rory said half heartedly with a grin. "It's just a plus that you're going there too."

"Right," I lied with an ache in my chest as Rory went on about Yale.

~~~

So Rory was right when she said the acceptance letters would be here soon. They arrived a few days later.

I opened the front door to my house on an early Wednesday night. I had just come back from spending the day after school with Jess. "Mum!" I called out when I noticed the empty living room. The place was kept cleaner than usual with the light off. I looked around for my mother only to see that the only light was in the kitchen.

I made my way over to the kitchen to see my mum at the table with a stack of envelopes in front of her. She rested her head on her interlocked hands. Her reading glasses sat on her curly brown hair. When she saw me in the doorway, she looked up with a small smile.

I point over to the envelopes with wide eyes. "Are those," I trailed, not being able to finish my sentence. I felt the blood rush to my head.

My mum pull out the chair beside her. "They're here," she says trying to hide her concerned expression. "I didn't open it, if you're wondering." She adds the last part as I take a seat.

"We're gonna do this now?" I ask nervously as I feel my heart beat out of my chest.

"I don't think I can wait anymore," she answered with an excited look.

"Me either," I answered as my mum pushed the stack of envelopes my way. "So I just open it?" I ask unsure of myself.

This is what I'd been waiting seventeen years for. The moment that will decide how the rest of my life will go. Where I'll be, where I'll make mistakes and where I'll find myself. College was such a big part of your life that I was so scared of screwing it up by not getting into accepted into any college.

"You just open it, kid." My mum nodded her head at she looked over at me. She put her arm over my shoulder and pulled me into her side. "But I just wanna say one thing first."

"No matter what happens, I'm so proud of you." She tells me with a kiss to my forehead. "It doesn't matter where you go as long as you're happy with your choice. Don't think about me, your grandparents, Jess, Rory or anyone else. This is for you. This is your time to be selfish."

I nod my head as I pull the first envelope on the top of the stack. I read the big blue stamp that said 'Columbia University'. I took a deep breathe before I tore open the seal. I was about it take out the letter when I pushed it away from me with a gasp.

"I can't do it!" I exclaimed standing up from my chair. I pace around the room as I bit the ends of my nails nervously. "I simply can't!" I run my hands though my hair frantically.

"You're gonna have to do it at some point honey," my mum tells me. "It's better to just rip the band-aid off quickly."

I stop my pacing when I realise what we clould do. "You alway rip my band-aids off," I tell her. "Why not doing it one more time."

"What are you on about?" She looks at me confused. "You don't have a band-aid!"

"What I mean," I tell her as I take a different seat at the table, one opposite her. "Why don't you read the letters?"

"No!" She protested with a shake of her head. "This is your time, you worked so hard for this."

"We worked so hard for this," I corrected with a smile. "And we both know I won't be able to open it," I persist with an encouraging smile.

My mum took the half opened envelope in her hand slowly. "Are you sure?" She looked to me for confirmation.

"Yes," I reassure her. "Why don't you read them all then tell me the results all at once." I suggested as I tapped my foot against the tiled floor.

She nods her head before pulling the whole stack of envelopes to her. Resting her glasses in the birdie of her nose, she opens each envelope carefully, her eyes scanning the pages. Her face betrayed no emotion as she read all the letters.

I'm guessing being a mum taught you how to not give away anything. The minutes she took to read each and every letter felt like hours. Hours that I spent in agony, waiting to see what my future held for me. When she was finally done, she pushed the letters aside and looked at me with a small smile.

"Which ones do you want first?" She asked me.

"Give me the bad news first," I answer as I prepare myself. My fingers never stopped their tapping on my knee.

She cleared her throat before speaking. "UPenn, Stanford, Cornell and Oxford." She says in a steady voice. "Rejected."

"That means," I stop myself as I feel my eyes well with tears. Not tears of sadness, tears of joy.

My mum lets a tear escape her left eye as she nods her head frantically. "You did it, baby." She tells me proudly.

I stay rooted in my seat. "I did it?" I ask her not believing it. She continues to nod her head happily. "Are you sure that you read it properly? Because remember when I wrote down broccolis on the grocery list and you bought cauliflower instead and-"

My mum cut my rambling off by jumping out of her seat and coming towards me. She gave me a wide smile with tears in her eyes as she pulled me out of my chair. She wrapped her arms around my tightly and whispered softly in my ear, "You did it."

"Yale?" I asked her into the hug as I heard my voice break.

"Yup," she confirms as we pull away. My mother still kept her arms around me comfortingly. "And Princeton, NYU, Cambridge, and-"

I cut her off with a loud gasp. "Columbia?" I asked hopefully.

"You did it!" My mum repeats in awe as I pull her in for another hug. My vision begins to blur form the unshed tears in my eyes.

"I'm going to New York?" I ask in a small voice, still not believing any of it. Funny how differently fifteen year old me pictured this moment. Back then I  wouldn't have given a rats ass about Columbia, I was all about Yale. But now, I didn't give Yale a second thought.

"You're going to New York!" My mum exclaimed in a shrill voice as I felt her shirt dampen from my tears. "I'm so proud of you."

Later that night, after my mum and I had sorted out everything and confirmed that Columbia was where I was gonna go. I sat on my bed with the phone pressed to my ear as I listened to the dial tone while I waited for Jess to pick up.

"Hello?" He answered groggily, no doubt he was sleeping.

"Were you sleeping?" I ask with the smile still plastered on my face, the high from before still in my blood.

"Hello to you too, Cherry." I heard his smirk over the line. "I was but-"

I couldn't help it, I cut him off. "I'm going to New York!" I screamed in excitement into the phone.

After some shuffling over the line I heard him respond. "They came? The letters?" I could hear his anxiousness over the phone.

"Yes!" I exclaimed happily. "I got in!"

I hear his laughter over the phone. "I'm coming over," he said as I heard what sounded like him shrugging a jacket on.

"You don't have to, I just wanted to let you know."

"I'm coming," he finalised. "That way we can celebrate properly."

"Celebrate?" I asked with an eyebrow raise.

"Cassie," he said in all seriousness. "We're going to New York."

I noticed how he said 'we're' instead of 'you'.  Jess and I never really talked about what would happen if I went to New York. We didn't really plan that far ahead. But it made me even happier at his words.

"You there?" Jess' voice brought me back. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said with a smile on my face. "It's just that you said we're going to New York."

"You got a problem with that, ma'am?" He asked with what sounded like a teasing smile.

"No problem at all."