Elsie was drawing a picture of Shakespeare throwing a spear through two girls, with the caption 'Shakespeared' while Mr. Medina went to pass out tests that they had done.

"Decent effort by most, good effort by some, exceptional effort by tour," Mr. Medina said. He handed tests, "Mr. Charleston, Miss Gellar, Miss Gilmore, and Miss Graham."

Elsie looked at her test to see that she had gotten a bright red A. She smiled in relief and looked at Cassian's test who held it towards her to show that he had gotten an A.

Mr. Medina continued speaking, "Take these home, learn from your mistakes. Look at the large red circles around various parts of your paper as friendly reminders that to err is human. And that here at Chilton we try to beat that humanity right outta ya! Okay, next up. The test – the dreaded test." He pointed at a copy of a paint of Shakespeare. "Shakespeare! The man we've been droning on about for the last three weeks, finally comes back to haunt us on Friday. This is a big one my friends – multiple choice with an essay section that will count for twenty percent of your grade for this semester. And don't be fooled by my kind face and charming personality. This test will be hard and there will be no make ups."

Elsie wrote that down in a planner. 

She had painted her nails a peachy pink color.

The bell rang and Mr. Medina continued talking, "Refer to the study materials that I gave you at the beginnings of the month and those extensive notes I know you've been taking."

Elsie packed up her stuff while Paris spoke, "Hard paper."

"Killer," Louise said.

Paris asked, "What'd you do?"

"A," Louise replied.

Paris said, "Me too."

"Oh, small world," Louise replied.

"Isn't it?" Paris asked, "Madeline, Elsie, what'd you two get?"

"I got an A," Elsie said.

"And you know I got a B," Madeline replied.

Elsie blocked them out and passed Cassian her drawing.

Cassian looked at it and looked at her, "Really?"

"That's all I could think when I hear Shakespeare," Elsie said, taking her drawing back.

Cassian asked, "And Skye thinks that Anthony is going to go on a murder spree?"

"We all know that she'll go on a murder spree and frame him for it," Elsie replied.

"Hey, you know, not everybody can be smart," Paris said. "As my mother always says, somebody has to answer the phones."

"Okay, I have no idea what you two are talking about," Madeline said.

"No, but Rory does," Paris replied.

Elsie briefly wondered what Paris was saying to Rory and she shook that thought off.

"I think Jon Snow is a dipstick so far," Cassian told Elsie.

Elsie laughed, "He gets better."

"I hope," Cassian told her.

Elsie nodded and thought of the Shakespeare Test. "You should come over to my house so we can study for the Shakespeare test together."

"Are we going to invite the others?" asked Cassian.

"They have different teachers, so they're on different subjects," Elsie explained. "So, it'll just be me and you. I can make us coffee to help us study."

"I don't like your coffee," Cassian told her. "It gives me the jitters."

"That's because you're a lightweight," Elsie teased.

Cassian chuckled at that, "Where are we going to study?"

"Maybe the night before the test," Elsie said.

"Okay, sure," Cassian replied.

After school, Pepper, Skye, Vivian, and Cassian had things to do, so it left Elsie and Anthony to do homework together.

Anthony waited around while Elsie changed into something more comfortable.

They went to a café  that Elsie liked to visit regularly, where Elsie got a cappuccino while Anthony got a pastry to eat.

Since Anthony really didn't want to go home; he hated being alone at home, they sat in the parked car, while Elsie did math homework, while Anthony did his own homework.

Anthony would've taken her to his home, but knowing how some neighbors were big gossips, word would've spread about it and then Emily would've freaked thinking Elsie was the second coming of Lorelai. Also, Anthony just didn't want Elsie to become the neighborhood whore.

Elsie asked, "So, what did you get for question fourteen?"

Anthony held up his notebook, "Uh, 1455 to 1487."

Elsie was confused, "I'm doing math. What the hell are you doing?"

"The War of the Roses," Anthony told her. "Why are you doing math? I thought we agreed on doing history."

"I don't have Mr. Madera for history. I have Mrs. Ness," Elsie told him.

Anthony closed his history book and tossed it in the backseat of the car. He leaned back in his seat. "Hey. Does Vivian talk about me?"

Elsie was surprised by that question. She chewed on her lower lip and considered telling the truth, but Vivian would be pissed at her for even saying yes. There was a reason that Anthony asked her, but if she said no, she didn't want to crush that hope. So, she said, "Best friend confidentiality. Does Cassian talk about me?"

"Best friend confidentiality," Anthony replied.

"Touché," Elsie stated. Stupid best friend confidentiality.

Anthony asked, "Why don't you just ask him out already?"

"Because I don't want to ruin our friendship because he doesn't like me like that," Elsie replied.

"Oh, please," Anthony replied. "He looks at you like you like you created the fucking night sky."

Elsie said, "And what's stopping you from asking out Vivian?"

"I'm not Jewish," Anthony replied.

"I'm sure you can have an inter-marriage," Elsie said. "Her parents did."

"And now they're dead," Anthony replied.

"In a house fire," Elsie replied and closed her math notebook to stuff in her bag.

Anthony shifted in his seat, "I have an idea."

Elsie was confused, "What?"

"I'll ask Viv out if you ask Cass out," Anthony told her.

Elsie mulled that over. It sounded like a bet, but her mother's words came uninvited to mind. Lorelai had a point. Elsie had to ask Cass out before someone else did. She nodded, "Deal."

Lorelai asked Max, "Hey, are you this nice to my kid?"

"Yeah, it's easy," Max said. "Rory and Elsie are very sweet girls."

Lorelai said, "Yeah, Rory is."

Max pulled Lorelai aside, "How is Rory liking Chilton? I know it must be hard for her, considering Elsie is in the top three."

"Oh, Rory loves it," Lorelai said, cringing a little at the mention of Eloise.

Max asked, "Really?"

"Oh yeah," Lorelai replied. "I mean it's an adjustment of course, but Rory always wanted to go to Harvard and this is how she'll get there."

"Harvard?" asked Max. "Not Yale like Elsie?"

Lorelai wanted to know why Max kept bringing up Eloise. The guilt was there. She didn't even know that Eloise wanted to go to Yale or was in the top three. She forced that down, "Yeah. Ever since Rory could crawl, I've really wanted her to go there."

After some small conversation, that was thankfully Eloise-free, Max said, "And I hope Rory's not too disappointed about her paper. Because it's very hard to catch up on all that reading material, even though Elsie takes very thorough color coded notes. I know a 'D' seems pretty dismal—"

"Rory got a 'D?'" interrupted Lorelai. She needed to go to Rory right now to cheer her up.

It was strange, having Cassian in her room. Granted, he had been in there before, but she had their other friends with her, but it was just the two of them...

She kept her door open in case Emily wanted to check in on them to make sure that Cassian wasn't impregnating Elsie or something.

Elsie asked, "Which one of Shakespeare's relatives was executed?" She looked up from her notes to see Cassian taking inventory of her closet.

He took out a dress and looked at it, "Uh, Edward Avery?"

"Arden," Elsie corrected him.

Cassian set the dress on the bed and looked at his notes, "What year did Shakespeare disappear from record for his 'lost years' and how long?"

"Uh, 1592 and it was seven years," Elsie said.

"Right," Cassian replied and went back to looking at Elsie's clothes. He took a shirt down and tossed it to the side.

Elsie asked, "Which royals hired Shakespeare's company to perform at the royal court?"

Cassian looked at a skirt and tossed it to the side, to keep digging, "Queen Elizabeth the first and James the fifth?"

"James the sixth," Elsie corrected.

"I hate Roman numerals," Cassian muttered and took down another a dress. "What did you get this dress for?"

"It's for Skye's Halloween party," Elsie told him. "I'm going as Elvira."

"Oh," Cassian replied. He looked at her, "Can I see you in this?"

"You will at Skye's Halloween party," Elsie told him.

"Aw, come on," Cassian said.

Elsie caved and grabbed it, "Fine." She went into the bathroom and closed the door. It was weird that she'll be modeling for him and only him.

Cassian asked, "What year did Shakespeare retire?"

"Uh, 1613 because The Globe burned down," Elsie told him.

"Oh, last year, my parents, Vivian, and I visited The Globe in London," Cassian said.

"I know," Elsie replied. "Vivian talked about it."

"I reminded me of the Thunderstruck music video with the arena," Cassian stated.

Elsie thought about it, "According to my dad, that was Brixton Academy. He talked to me about it." She frowned, "How many suicides were in Shakespeare's plays?"

"Uh, I don't know," Cassian replied.

"Thirteen," Elsie replied. She walked into her room, feeling a little weird at her dress choice. Cassian was looking in Elsie's closet, but he turned and looked at her. "I know it's not exactly Elvira's dress, but I felt it was a little too revealing, you know?"

Cassian stared at her and Elsie suddenly felt self-conscious. Perhaps the dress was too short, maybe it was revealing a little too much of her breasts. She glanced down. No, they were hidden.

Thankfully Emily came in, holding a tray with tiramisu and milk, "Jenny made you two some tiramisu."

Cassian asked, "Did you get a new cook? I thought her name was Mira."

"We got a new cook," Elsie told him. "Tell Suzie that I said thank you."

Emily asked, "Whose Suzie?"

"The cook," Elsie said. "Her name is Suzie, not Jenny."

"Oh, whatever," Emily replied. She looked at Elsie, "What's with the dress?"

Elsie looked at it, "Cass wanted to see me in it." She realized how weird that sounded. "It's for Skye's Halloween party because I was going as Elvira."

Emily nodded, "At least it's not to revealing."

"Yeah," Elsie replied.

Emily gave them one more scrutinizing look before leaving.

"I wussed out and didn't ask Viv out," Anthony told Elsie the next day at Chilton.

"Yeah, I couldn't ask Cass out either," Elsie replied.

"We're both little bitches," Anthony stated.

"And pathetic," Elsie added.

"That too," Anthony said.

"Yup," Elsie said, popping the 'p'. She took out her fountain pen that she had prepped in the morning. She wiggled it at him, "Next time."

"Next time I wimp out, you should hit me," Anthony told her.

Elsie was stunned at that, "I'm not going to—"

"Come on; do it," Anthony urged her.

"Fine," Elsie replied. "And you should smack me when I bitch out." She added, "To make it even."

Anthony exhaled, "Just not in public."

Cassian walked up, "Don't do what in public?"

"Hitting each other," Anthony told him.

Cassian asked, "Why do I even ask you two questions?"

Skye said, "What do you expect when they're sharing a brain? Elsie has it for at least 98% of the time."

"Oh, hey, screw you," Anthony told Skye.

"No thanks," Skye replied. "Vivian will punch me in the ovaries if I did. And you're not my type."

The bell rang and they took off to their classes.

Cassian asked, "What were you and Anthony really talking about?"

"He wanted to ask Viv out, but he couldn't," Elsie told him.

Cassian asked, "How did that turn into you two hitting each other?"

Thankfully they made it to Mr. Medina's class and walked in to sit at their desks.

Mr. Medina started off class by taking the roster and then going over the rules of the test, before passing the exams out.

Elsie started with the essay portion first, just to get it over with before starting on the multiple choice which would be a piece of cake.

After a few minutes, she finished her essay and she started on the multiple choice questions.

The door burst open and a desperate voice cut through the silence, "I'm sorry."

A flustered and slightly disheveled Rory was pulling up her knee-high socks.

"Everyone back to your tests," Mr. Medina said. "Miss Gilmore, you're going to have to wait in the library."

Elsie blocked out their conversation before hearing, "But you don't understand! I was up all night studying—"

Rory needed a better study schedule. Cramming all night for a test without breaks, wasn't a good schedule. But all night?

"So, I'm driving down this road and I stop and I get hit by a deer," Rory explained.

"You hit a deer?" asked Mr. Medina, shocked by that statement.

"No, I got hit by a deer," Rory clarified. "You don't believe me? I've got antler prints on the side of my mother's car."

"Rory, come on," Mr. Medina urged.

"No! You have to let me take this test," Rory begged. "I'm ready for this test. I know everything there is to know about Shakespeare." It seemed like she was getting worked up.

Elsie was beginning to get frustrated with Rory. Rules were rules. Begging wasn't going to get Mr. Medina to change his mind.

"I know everything there is to know about Shakespeare," Rory continued.

"Okay, okay, you have to calm down now," Mr. Medina told her.

Rory continued to plead, "I know his birthday and his mother's name and the kind of ink that he used—"

"Rory, just go to the library," Elsie spoke up, finishing her test. "You missed it. No amount of begging and pleading is going to get the rules changed for you. The rules didn't even change for Cassian and Vivian."

That apparently was the wrong thing to say, because Rory whirled on her and started yelling, "And what is wrong with you? You hate me just because Mom chose me over you! You have friends, perfect grades, and the perfect life to go with it! Why do you want my mother too? You could've called and tried to be involved in our life but no!"

Elsie blinked back the tears that threatened to fall and she glared at Rory, "Exactly. You could've called and tried to be involved in my life but you didn't. It goes both ways, Rory, something that you don't seem to understand. Not everything has to revolve around you. We may be related, but we're not sisters."

"Rory is such a loser," Paris whispered to Louise.

Rory turned her frustration onto Paris, "And just what is wrong with you, huh? You already have everything just like Eloise. You already have the grades and the status. What the hell is wrong with you that you have this constant need to be the biggest jerk in the entire world?"

Did Rory forget that she ruined Paris's project? And wouldn't take Paris refusing her help as an answer?

"Okay, let's go," Mr. Medina said.

Rory continued, "Huh? What's up? What's up quippy? Why so silent?"

"She's trying to take a test, just like everyone else is this classroom," Elsie snapped.

Max replied, "Okay, Elsie, you and Rory outside – now!"

Rory turned away, smugly smiling because she apparently thought she had the last word. "And for the last time – the name's Rory!"

Elsie passed Mr. Medina her test, "I finished it anyway."

Rory and Elsie sat awkwardly next to each other outside the headmaster's office. Elsie was feeling nervous and near tears because she had never been sent down to the headmaster's office before.

Elsie took out Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede that Skye had loaned her. She only looked up when she heard her name being called from inside.

"Miss Gilmore, take a seat," Headmaster Charleston said, once Elsie got in the office.

Elsie sat down on the rather stiff chair. She wondered how Vivian and Cassian could sit in here and eat lunch together.

"I must say, Miss Gilmore, that I was surprised when Mr. Medina said that you were sent to see me," Headmaster Charleston stated.

Elsie hung her head slightly, "I'm sorry, Headmaster. I got frustrated because Rory was disrupting the class by begging to take a test that she was late for. Have you called my grandparents?"

"I have not. Since you have no priors, I will let you off with a warning," Headmaster Charleston stated. "However, I did notify your grandparents of what happened."

Relief flooded through her. "Thank you, Headmaster. That is very generous of you. I promise that this won't happen again."

The door opened and Lorelai poked her head through, "Excuse me, hello."

Elsie left the office as quickly as she could.

"Yeah, so it turned out that my dad is allowing Rory to retake the test," Cassian told his friends. "Apparently all you need is two people having a tantrum and calling the school a rathole and calling him 'il duce' to get him to allow a spoiled brat to take a test."

"Bite me," Elsie replied darkly. Of course Rory would get her way. Not even Headmaster Charleston allowed Vivian and Cassian to make up or retake a test. But precious, perfect Rory got to take a test that she had forefeited by being late.

"Christ," Skye replied. "If I go in there and have a tantrum would he allow me to redo my history test?"

"Only if your name is Lorelai Gilmore," Vivian muttered, crossing her arms.