I did change Elsie's face-claim to Jennifer Connelly and I changed Theo's name to Cassian, because I thought Theo didn't fit Kit Harington's face.

Elsie went into the kitchen to get some breakfast. She wore the Chilton button down shirt, the uniform skirt, and black over-the-knee socks and the saddle shoes. She would put on the rest of the uniform after she got done eating and brushing her teeth.

"Good morning, Elsie," Richard greeted.

"Good morning, Grandpa," Elsie greeted back. She went to eat her breakfast: potato rösti with smoked salmon, egg, and hollandaise with a side of corn fritters and pancetta with avocado salsa and roasted cherry truss tomatoes.

She took a drink of some coffee from her favorite mug.

Emily walked in, "Good morning, Richard, Elsie."

"Good morning," Elsie and Richard greeted her.

Emily sat at the table across from Elsie. Emily had some kind of look on her face that Elsie knew what it meant.

Elsie asked, "Yes, Grandmother?"

"Nothing, dear," Emily replied.

Elsie ate some more food but Emily still had that look on her face. "Are you sure it's nothing, Grandmother?"

"I'm sure," Emily replied.

Elsie nodded, "All right."

"Here we are," Emily said, parking in a space at Chilton.

Emily had insisted on driving Elsie to Chilton, even though it was practically a ten minute walk from where they lived.

"Thank you, Grandmother," Elsie said, opening the door, but Emily's hand on her arm stopped her. "Yes?"

Emily asked, "Would you like to come to the Headmaster's office with me to welcome Rory?"

Oh. So that's why Emily insisted on driving and decided to make sure that Elsie was trapped: to avoid having Elsie storm off.

It made sense why Emily had parked before springing the question on her: Elsie would've thrown herself out of the car if Emily was driving.

There were a lot of things that Elsie would rather do than welcome the Womb-Sharer to Chilton. Chilton and Hartford was hers; Rory had Stars Hollow and Lorelai. What else did the Womb-Sharer want to take away from her? Her grandparents? Her bedroom? Her friends? Yale?

So, Elsie lied, "Sorry, I can't. I have to go to get a last minute chemistry study session with Vivian before the exam. Bye, Grandmother."

She left the car and went to her friends. She felt guilty for lying to Emily, but she'd rather stick knives in her eyes and ears than welcome the Womb-Sharer to Chilton. She went to her friends.

"Oh, woe is me," Elsie said, falling into the nearest person's arms.

There were snickers.

"Tell me, Hamlet, what has woe has befallen you?" Cassian joked.

Elsie realized she had fallen into Cassian's arms. She straightened herself up. "The Womb-Sharer is arriving today. My grandmother wanted me to welcome her to Chilton. I'm surprised she didn't bring balloons with her."

"Balloons are banned because they're distracting," Pepper stated. "It wasn't a rule until Cinnamon created it."

"That was because people were trying to pop the balloons," Anthony said.

"Yeah and Cinnamon hit another student with one during class," Pepper replied.

Skye was messing with a lock of hair that she had dyed blue.

Elsie asked, "What is it?"

"Its fine you're jealous of her," Skye said.

Elsie didn't get where she got jealousy from. "I'm not jealous of her. I'm just irritated that she's trying to steal my life from me. First she got my mother and now she's trying to take Chilton from me."

"She's a month behind, Elle Bell," Cassian replied. "She'll probably get kicked out because she couldn't catch up."

Okay, that did make Elsie feel a bit guilty for imagining. "She's a Gilmore." She winced a little. "We can be determined and stubborn as hell. I'm sure that she'll catch up."

It was just Elsie's luck that Rory ended up sharing Mr. Medina's English class with her. 

Elsie tried to ignore the intruder that was sitting a few seats away from her, as Elsie sat near the back next to the window. 

She twirled her her Mont Blanc Grace De Monaco Ivory colored ball point around fingers as she listened to Mr. Medina's lecture. She had applied a fresh coat of red nail polish to her fingernails.

She had a Meisterstück Glacier Classique ball point to go with her ivory pen.

She had matching fountain pens, but she used the fountain pens for her essays and tests.

Cassian was in the desk next to hers and she found herself looking at him. She looked away, trying to focus on Mr. Medina's lecture, "...and while French culture was the dominant outside cultural influence, especially for Russia's monied class, English culture also had its impact. Tolstoy's favorite author, for instance, was..."

"Dickens," Paris said, with her hand raised.

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

Elsie raised her hand, "George Sand and Balzac."

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

"David Copperfield," Paris and Elsie said in unison. They looked at each other.

Elsie wouldn't exactly call Paris a friend, maybe an acquaintance. She respected Paris's decision to aim for valedictorian and go to Harvard, while Paris respected Elsie's decision to go to Yale to study architecture. They mutually respected each other just as long as they didn't invade each other's turfs.

Elsie risked a glance at Rory, who seemed to be frazzled.

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

The door opened and Tristan walked in.

"Ah, Mr. Dugray," Mr. Medina said.

"Sir," Tristan replied and handed a note to Mr. Medina.

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

"Much better, sir," Tristan replied.

Some students probably thought it was weird that Skye continued going to school while her grandfather was in the hospital. She visited her uncle two weeks ago, while Tristan continued going to school, so last week, Skye went to school while Tristan went to visit their grandfather, so Skye got notes for Tristan to go over while Tristan did the same when Skye visited their grandfather.

"Good," Mr. Medina said. "Take your seat, please."

Tristan walked over to his seat. He nodded at Elsie, who nodded back at him in greeting. She didn't like Tristan too much. She thought he was a bit annoying, but she got along with him. She noticed that Tristan focused on Rory, who seemed to shift uncomfortably in her seat.

"Great Expectations, A Tale of Cities, Little Dorrit, all major influences on Leo Tolstoy," Mr. Median explained.

"Les Misérables had a major influence of Tolstoy when he wrote War and Peace," Elsie added, with her hand raised.

"Yes," Mr. Medina said. "Tomorrow we will focus on the..."

Elsie noticed Tristan whispering something to Cassian who looked a little irritated with the interruption but he replied.

"...writing styles of these two literary masters, Tolstoy and Dickens," Mr. Medina said. The bell rang. "Class dismissed."

Elsie packed up her things and followed Cassian outside the classroom.

"Looks like we got ourselves a Mary," Tristan stated loudly.

Elsie rolled her eyes. She had been branded as 'Mary' before, along with Pepper. Luckily she lost that moniker at the 'End of the School Year' party when she allowed some guy to grab a boob when they made out. 

"I was thinking maybe we can watch The Crow after school," Elsie told him.

Cassian seemed to perk up, "Sure."

"We can bring the others around and study together too," Elsie said.

"Sure," Cassian replied with far less enthusiasm.

Elsie tried to figure out what she said as she unlocked her locker.

Anthony and Pepper came up to her.

Anthony noticed Rory talking to Paris, "Who's that with Paris?"

"My sister," Elsie replied, feeling her eye twitch slightly. She looked away as Pepper unlocked the bottom locker. Pepper had bribed a guy to let her use his locker, since their lockers were close together, but Pepper had a locker that was farther down the hall, so she bribed a guy.

"She's cute," Anthony said. Elsie looked at him. Anthony sputtered, "I mean, she's cute, but you're beautiful."

"Thanks," Elsie replied confused, as she exchanged her books to go to Mrs. Ness's history class.

Pepper, Anthony, and Cassian took off to go to their own classes, because they didn't want to get in trouble for being out of class without a pass. Not even Headmaster Charleston let Cassian and Vivian off the hook.

She turned to get her model of Bran Castle out of her locker but stopped and watched as Rory seemed to be struggling with her locker right as Skye walked by.

Skye asked, "Having trouble?"

"Yeah," Rory replied.

"Good," Skye stated. She strutted down the hallway with a confidence that Elsie tried to learn but failed miserably.

Elsie looked at Rory for a moment. The girl had set her books and things on the ground to struggle with the locker door.

Elsie considered her options, go up to the girl and offer Rory her notes and study with Cassian (which she wouldn't consider a bad thing) or let the girl find her own footing or let the girl screw up the curve by just being here, but then Rory would drag down Elsie's reputation that she had built up. Elsie didn't want to be known as the girl whose sister couldn't hack it at Chilton either.

She considered letting Rory come to her first, but then again, Elsie spent many years waiting for Rory and Lorelai to come to her, before she gave up on hoping they'll come get her.

She went to Rory, "Rory?"

Rory turned around, "Yeah?"

Elsie handed her the English binder, "Here, take my English notes. I don't want you screwing up the curve and ruining my reputation as one of the top three percent-ers."

She got her model out of her locker, closed it, locked it, and went into Mrs. Ness's history class. She went to her desk and sat down at her desk, taking out a book to read.

Paris came in looking furious, "Your sister—"

"Is in this class?" Elsie finished, looking at Rory who walked in.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Paris stated, dropping her bag onto her desk that was in front of Elsie's.

The bell rang and Mrs. Ness walked in, ordering, "Seats now, please."

"Hey, Mary," Tristan said to Rory, sitting behind Elsie.

Rory ignored him.

"Okay, we left our projects off on Friday with Mr. Gaynor, so today we will pick up with Miss Gellar."

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

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

"Yes," Paris replied.

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

"No," replied Paris.

"All right," Mrs. Ness said. "You will receive an incomplete for this project."

Rory stood up, "It's my fault."

Mrs. Ness looked at the new student, "Who are you?"

"Rory Gilmore," Rory stated. "I wrecked her project."

"Shut up," Paris ordered her.

Mrs. Ness looked through the class roster, "I don't have a Rory Gilmore. I have a Lorelai Gilmore."

"That's me," Rory said.

Mrs. Ness asked, "You are Rory and Lorelai Gilmore?"

Elsie rolled her eyes, "Her name is Lorelai but she goes by Rory."

Rory nodded, "Yes, and I wrecked her project. My locker got stuck."

"Just stay out of this," Paris told her.

Mrs. Ness said, "Rory, you wrecked Paris's project when?"

"Just before class," Rory said.

"Very convenient," Mrs. Ness said, as if it was some scheme Paris and Rory cooked up together.

"No, I did." Rory explained, "My locker got stuck and when I opened it—"

"Stop it!" Paris snapped.

"Miss Rory Gilmore, since you say you wrecked Miss Gellar's project, then you may help her fix it. You have until tomorrow," Mrs. Ness said.

"Fine," Rory replied.

"No," Paris said.

Rory asked, "Why not?"

"I don't want your help," Paris told her.

"But I don't mind doing it," Rory countered.

Paris said, "Just stay out of this."

"What is wrong with you? I'm trying to help you," Rory replied.

Elsie snapped, "She said no, Rory. She doesn't want your help and that's fine. Respect her decision and stop hounding her."

"Yeah, I said I don't want your help," Paris agreed with Elsie. "Respect my decision."

"Ladies, enough," Mrs. Ness said. "Miss Gellar, if you don't want Miss Rory Gilmore's help, then you may have until tomorrow. If it's not done, you will receive an incomplete. Is that understood?"

"Yes," Paris replied, sitting down.

Mrs. Ness looked at Rory, "As long as you're standing...class, we have a new student. Say hello to Rory Gilmore."

"Hi, Rory," Elsie's classmates muttered.

"Hello, Mary," Tristan said loudly.

Rory sat down and Mrs. Ness said, "All right, next up we have Miss Elsie Gilmore." She added, "I hope your project wasn't ruined."

"I have it right here," Elsie said, getting up to present the castle. She set it on the teacher's desk, "This is Bran Castle, also known as Dracula's Castle, which is marketed from the titular novel, Dracula. However, there is no evidence that Stoker knew anything about the castle. It does haven tangential associations with Vlad the Impaler, voivode of Wallachia, whose name that Stoker used to name his character..."

After getting through the presentations, Mrs. Ness had switched on to reading passages from a book and quizzing them on who said it and what year.

Elsie noticed Rory pass Paris a folded piece of paper, but the dark blonde haired girl crumpled it up and tossed it onto the ground without even looking at it.

"Let's try another passage, 'The Romanists have, with great adroitness, drawn thee walls round themselves, with which they have hitherto protected themselves, so that no one could reform them, whereby Christendom has fallen terribly.' Who said this?"

"Martin Luther," Rory said quickly.

"Very good, Miss Rory," Mrs. Ness said. "And what year did Martin Luther address the Christian nobility?"

"1520," Rory answered quickly once again.

"Very good, Miss Rory," Mrs. Ness replied. The bell rang, "until next time, class."

Elsie gathered her things and watched as Paris went to Rory's desk.

"Stay out of my and Elsie's way," Paris warned her. "We will make this school a living hell for you." She left.

Tristan walked by, "See you tomorrow, Mary." He left too.

"The name is Rory," the brunette girl said to no one.

"He knows that," Elsie told her. "He just thinks you look like the good girl type. You know, like the Virgin Mary."

Rory stayed silent before asking, "What would he call me if he thought I looked like a slut?"

"Mary Magdalene," Elsie told her before leaving the classroom.

She went to her friends so they can go to lunch together. Cassian and Vivian didn't eat lunch with them, because they usually ate lunch with Headmaster Charleston. Sometimes the two did eat lunch with the others.

Eloise told her friends, "Paris threatened the Womb-Sharer after class."

Skye laughed, "What did she do to make Paris threaten her?"

"She answered two questions before Paris can," Elsie replied.

Anthony nodded, "Paris is very territorial when it comes to someone else answering questions before she can."

Elsie agreed because she had been the receiving end of one of Paris's death glares.

Where she went, Lorelai was sure she kept hearing the name Elsie or Eloise.

Eloise – the name that Christopher had obsessed over when he spotted it on a children's book. Eloise – the name of the little girl that she had abandoned.

She couldn't help it. Eloise was very rough to handle since she had colic. She didn't sleep through the night either when Rory did. It was like every time she went in public with Eloise, she would start acting up and it felt like people were judging her because she couldn't control her brat of a daughter. It was humiliating and mortifying because Rory was perfect. She didn't act up. She took naps unlike Eloise. She wasn't colicky like Eloise. Rory didn't take blocks or toys from Eloise, like Eloise did. She just wasn't a brat.

Add on to Emily's overbearing judgmental eyes, along with lack of sleep, Lorelai just took Rory and left.

She promised herself that she'll get Eloise, but sleeping through the night for once and not having to deal with Eloise's fussy, crankiness. Rory was just easier to deal with. It was especially easier not having to raise two kids, she didn't have to make even more clothes, only had to feed one. There was more space in the potting barn that Eloise would have taken up. So, she didn't return to get Eloise. And it just got easier pretending that she had one daughter. Knowing that Emily and Richard had to deal with Eloise was relieving in a way.

Sure, she felt guilty every time she had to look at Eloise because she had to leave her behind. She told herself that it was for the best, because it would've been difficult raising two kids on her own. It was just was easier this way. Sure, she could've gone back for Eloise, but she had gotten attached to Emily and Richard and she was sure it would've been cruel to uproot her life in Hartford to drag her back to Stars Hollow.

She watched Eloise with her friends, two guys and three girls, one with blue streaks dyed in her hair. They were talking and laughing.

Something about the way Eloise kept looking at the boy with the darker hair intrigued Lorelai. Eloise looked to be slightly taller than the guy that she stood next to. She was sure that the boy Eloise was with was the headmaster's son, because she remembered seeing a picture of him and the headmaster's niece on the headmaster's desk.

"Hanlin's wife and I are on the symphony fundraising committee together. Also, Elsie is friends with his son and niece, Cassian and Vivian," Emily's words sprang to mind.

She watched Cassian and Eloise together. She would bump shoulders with him, causing him to smile and he would bump her shoulder with his, making her smile at him in a way that Lorelai had looked at Christopher once upon a time.

She wasn't even aware that Eloise was dating someone. How come she wasn't told about this development?

She would've thought that Eloise would've gone for the guy with brown hair, because he kind of reminded Lorelai of Christopher when he was a teen.

They stopped at the blonde girl's car since she took keys out of her bag. However, the brunette girl broke away from the group to go on over to another brown haired girl who was standing with two black girls, one of whom looked to be a senior. It just left Eloise, the blonde girl, and the two guys to get into the car.

"I call dibs on picking the music!" the brown haired guy called.

"Ugh, I hate your music," Eloise stated.

The mini-Christopher asked, "What's wrong with it?" 

"No one likes polka and folk music," Eloise said.

"Except Anthony," Cassian replied.

"That's because he's a psychopath," the blonde girl said. "Now get in before I leave you all behind. I want to hurry up and watch Silent of the Lambs."

Then Rory was running into her arms and all thoughts of Eloise were removed from Lorelai's mind.