There was another Friday night dinner where Thea was ignored, but when Monday rolled around, she got up to make coffee.

She could hear loud music coming from Rory's room. When Thea was sitting on the window seat, she spotted Lane coming up, so she knew it was Lane in there.

Thea put her travel mug in the coffee maker.

She couldn't sleep well, because what happened in that locker room, her thoughts drifting to terrible things, like her being forced to do PE in her underclothes while everyone mocked her or pointed at her and laughed.

So, she made her coffee extra strong.

There was a bake sale at Chilton, so Sookie was going to make things for it. Thea would've made something, but she knew it wouldn't have been good enough for the bake sale.

So, she was glad that there was some teacher work day that meant there was going to be a half-day. Since Sookie and Lorelai were going to be gone in Hartford, it'll be enough time for her and her friends to watch a movie or play a video game before heading on over to their part-time jobs.

Thea took two lemon squares out of the fridge that she brought home from the bakery.

Rory came out of her bedroom.

"Hey," Lorelai said. "I have an idea for a new reality show. How about everyone just looks out their freakin' kitchen for a change?"

"Ooh," Rory said, taking a lemon square from Thea's plate. "She's cranky this morning."

Thea wasn't sure if Rory was talking to her so she nodded.

"Let's just say the world has a formidable opponent," Lorelai said.

"Wait," Rory said. She turned onto Lorelai. "Shouldn't you be baking?"

"I don't know," Lorelai replied. "Shouldn't you be knitting?"

"Mom!" Rory said, "The Chilton bake sale is today!"

"I know," Lorelai replied. "I got it covered."

"They expect the things to be homemade," Rory explained.

"I know," repeated Lorelai.

"By someone other than Dolly Madison," Rory said.

"I said I have it covered," Lorelai replied.

"She has Sookie covering it for you," Thea told Rory. She took her travel mug, crammed the rest of her lemon square in her mouth, grabbed her backpack and took off.

She went to Luke's and sat at the bar counter.

Luke turned to her, "Good morning."

"I made my own coffee, because yours isn't strong enough for me today," Thea said. Luke looked briefly offended. "I couldn't sleep. I'll just get eggs benedict. Not very hungry right now."

Georgia walked in and sat next to Thea. Even Georgia looked like she didn't sleep very well either. Georgia asked, "Did you make that coffee?"

"Yeah," Thea said.

Georgia took a mug and poured Thea's coffee into it. "I have a death wish and need the jitters because I couldn't sleep." She took a drink from the mug, seeming to perk up instantly. "Goddamn that's strong."

"You're just a lightweight," Thea teased her.

Liberty went to the counter, "Wow. You two need sleep."

Thea shrugged, "I know."

She and Georgia ended up telling Sage and Liberty about the Locker Room Incident, because they needed to know. It was awful, but she was glad that they knew about it.

Thea went to the chemistry lab as soon as she got to the school.

"Here, Theodosia, I got you Storm Front," Mr. Conn said to Thea, handing the book over. "It has a professional wizard as a detective."
Thea took The Sandman and handed it over, "Here's The Sandman. Aiden recommended it to me and I liked it. I think you'll like it too."

Mr. Conn took the comic book and Thea left the classroom to go to English class.

She almost bumped into Sage.

Sage asked, "What were you doing in there?"

"Oh, just exchanging books," Thea said. "It's a thing Mr. Conn and I do. I loan him a book and he loans me one. I got him into a Song of Ice and Fire. He loaned me Storm Front so I loaned him The Sandman."

Sage nodded, though he seemed unsure. Thea nearly kissed him to get him to stop from looking unsure, probably because of what the gym teacher did.

"I know he's not interested in me, at all," Thea reassured him. "All we do is discuss books and exchange books. Sometimes we talk about archery, but that's it."

Sage nodded and the bell rang. So, they took off in different directions.

There was a moment where she considered 'fuck it' and going to kiss him in front of the students, but word would get back. However, people would think that they just got together. In a way, she just wasn't ready to reveal that part to the world yet.

She went to her English class.

After school let out, they went to Georgia's house to watch a movie or two.

Aiden asked, "You exchange books with the chemistry teacher?"

Was telling Aiden really necessary? Thea guessed it did, since Aiden was also her boyfriend, so Aiden did have the right to know.

Liberty and Georgia looked at Thea.

"Yes, but that's it," Thea replied. "If he ever tries to hit on me, I'll tell you guys."

Liberty said, "So why not join a book club?"

Thea shrugged, "Because we can talk about whatever book we want at our own pace. I don't know."

Sage asked, "What book did he loan you again?"

"Storm Front," Thea said, taking the book. "It's about a professional wizard detective. That's all he told me."

Aiden took the book and looked at it. He handed it back to Thea, "Seems interesting."

"I hope it is," Thea responded, taking her book back and putting it in her backpack.

"Still weird," Liberty muttered.

"Its fine," Thea replied. "We only talk in school, that's about it."

They got to Georgia's house, "Who's up for Scary Movie?"

"Put it on," Thea replied as she went to make popcorn.

Sage stopped to kiss the back of Thea's head on his way to get drinks.

After watching the movie and a different movie, Thea, Aiden, and Liberty had gotten up.

"Shit, I need to get to the bookstore," Aiden said. "I'm going to be late." He kissed Thea before taking off.

"Yeah, I gotta go help my dad at the diner," Liberty said, grabbing her backpack and taking off.

"And I need to go to the bakery," Thea replied. She grabbed her backpack, kissed Sage goodbye and went to the door.

"I need to get a part-time job," Sage muttered.

"Me too," Georgia replied.

Thea went to the bakery, "Hey, Fran."

"Hi, Thea," Fran said. "We got an order for one Neapolitan ice cream cake with berries on top and the other a cookies and cream ice cream cake for a pair of twins' birthday party."

Thea nodded, "Okay." She grabbed an apron and pulled her hair into a ponytail, before putting on a hairnet. "What do they want on top of the cookies and cream ice cream cake?"

"Oreo crumbs and Oreos on top," Fran told Thea, who was washing her hands with soap.

They got through with one ice cream cake when Rory ran in. It was strange because Thea never knew that Rory can run.

"Thea," Rory said.

Thea wondered if she was in some dream because Rory never really talked to her. "What?"

"It's Cinnamon," Rory said. "You need to get to Babette's house. There's a veterinarian van outside their house. I want you to make sure that everything is okay. I'm going to get Mom." Rory took off and Thea wondered if that just happened. She looked at Fran.

"You go, honey," Fran replied. "Marjorie and I got the other cake handled."

Thea removed her hairnet, threw it in the trash and went to Babette's house.

According to the vet, Cinnamon died. According to Babette, she thought the cat was sleeping, and pushed her onto the ground, causing the poor cat to slide right into a lamp, breaking it, because Babette waxed the floors.

According to the vet, the cat was two-hundred-and-sixty years-old, which meant that Cinnamon was actually fifty-years-old. Although Thea was sure that the vet was exaggerating Cinnamon's age by about thirty years.

Lorelai and Rory had come around.

Rory sat next to Morey, making Thea scoot down the couch. Rory asked, "Is there anything I can do for you, Morey?"

"This is life, you two," Morey said. "It breaks your heart."

And sometimes your gym teacher turns out to be a bon a fide creep, Thea wanted to say but didn't. She would've gone unheard anyway.

She awkwardly looked around while Babette explained what happened again.

The vet asked, "Listen, why don't you let me take her out to the van and then I'll get out of your way?"

"Oh, no, stay," Babette said. "All of you: please stay. Cinnamon would want you here."

"We'll stay as long as you want," Rory said.

"I'll never eat clams again," Morey said.

"Me either," Rory replied, patting Morey's arm.

"Especially not from Al's Pancake World," Thea muttered.

Thea went and called Sookie and Fran to let them what happened, before she called Miss Patty so the dancer could spread the word about Cinnamon's passing. Then she called her friends because they needed to know and now she watched as mourners trickled in.

Thea walked around and she heard Michel say, "Hello? Hello? Where is Lorelai? I'm dropping something off."

Thea liked Michel. The man said whatever he wanted, which was something Thea kind of aspired to do, but she couldn't.

"Ah, there you are, Lorelai's other offspring," Michel said to Thea.

Where sometimes Michel referred to Rory as 'Lorelai's offspring', Thea was called 'Lorelai's other offspring.' Thea liked to think Michel was fond of her because she didn't annoy him.

Thea asked, "What is it?"

"Here, give this your mother," Michel said, handing a white tube to Thea. "She must be somewhere in the party-goers. I can't believe she didn't invite me."

"Don't worry," Thea said. "She never invites me to go anywhere with her either." She winced, not believing that she even said that out loud.

As if she had 'someone is talking to Thea' radar, Lorelai appeared, taking the tube, "I got this Thea."

Thea wandered off.

"Did the cat really roll into a lamp?"

That was Georgia. Thank god someone who wanted to talk to her was here.

"Yeah," Thea replied.

Aiden appeared, "We must be psychos, because we're at a wake for a cat." He paused, "I mean, my aunt, uncle, and I are psychos because we keep constantly changing the utensil drawer, so I don't think we're at 'have a wake for a cat' level of psycho yet."

"I know," Georgia replied. "It's kind of cool. Who else does this?"

"People who aren't psychotic?" replied Aiden.

Thea smiled at them, "We find Sage and Libby, stay here for like twenty minutes, filling in the obligation quota and we'll sneak out the backdoor. Does that sound like a plan?"

"Oh, yeah," Georgia replied, nodding. 

They didn't have to find the two teens because Sage came with Sookie who had food, while Liberty came with Luke who also had food.

Thea realized something. She asked Georgia and Aiden, "Did Sookie really have to name her son with a name that starts with S? And did Luke actually agree to name Liberty with a name that starts with L?"

"Good catch," Georgia replied, looking a little scandalized.

Aiden asked, "Did you both just realized that? I realized that a long time ago. I know I'm slow on the uptake, but that was something I noticed a long time ago."

"Dig in," Luke said to the mourners.

A large group went for the food swarming Liberty.

Thea went over and grabbed Liberty's arm and pulled her through the group.

Liberty took a few deep breaths, "God, I thought I saw the light."

"I'm not God, but I want to be," Thea joked.

Liberty gave her a look, "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, besides, I think God is that light at the end of the tunnel, so that sounds redundant to me," Thea stated.

Sage came up to them and said, "I heard that Cinnamon rolled into a lamp."

"Yeah, she did," Liberty replied.

"So, I heard that Joanna's older sister was caught with the janitor," Emiko was saying to Mikayla and Thea.

Thea asked, "Wait, which sister? Leslie or Billie?"

"Billie," Emiko said.

"Oh, good," Thea said in relief. "At least she's in college." She was kind of tired of the creepy age gap relationships going on.

Emiko nodded, "I know."

"That's one good thing so far," Mikayla said.

Aiden came up to them and put his arms around Thea's waist, before turning her around 'til she was facing the wall.

Thea started, "What are you—?"

Aiden shushed her and from the corner of Thea's eye, she noticed how Emiko and Mikayla tensed up.

From the corner of Thea's other eye, she noticed the figure of the gym teacher leaving to go into another room. Aiden removed his arms from Thea's waist. "Sorry about that. That wasn't cool of me."

Thea wanted to say that Aiden was free to do that whenever he wanted, but couldn't.

It was oddly tense and Emiko seemed to release the breath she was holding. "I think I'm going to go home."

"I'll be right behind you," Mikayla agreed.

"I think I'll leave too," Thea replied. She didn't want to get backed up into a corner by the gym teacher.

They started making their way to door, although Mikayla and Emiko both took off. Aiden and Thea had to find the rest of their friends.

It didn't take long for Georgia to show up. She looked frazzled, "I just saw Coach—"

"We did too," Thea replied.

Liberty and Sage came up to them.

Liberty said, "I think we filled our twenty minutes quota. Let's get the hell out of Dodge."

They left the house one-by-one to not make it obvious that they were leaving.

"Let's go to my house," Thea said.

"Right behind you," Georgia stated.

They made their way to the house, although there was another creep going up to the door.

Thea had enough creeps to last her a lifetime.

Sage groaned, "Now who the hell is that?"

"That's what I'm going to find out," Thea said. She wished she had her bow with her as she marched up the guy. The man seemed surprised to see her. "Who the hell are you and why are you lurking outside my house?"

"I'm Max Medina," the man said. "I was here to pick Lorelai up for our date. Did you say that this was your house?"

Thea was unaware that Lorelai was dating a man. However, she knew that Lorelai never introduced Rory (and by extension, Thea) to the guys she dated so they (mostly Rory) didn't get too attached in case in doesn't work out.

However, she wasn't surprised that Lorelai never mentioned Thea to him.

"Oh, yeah, I'm Thea," the teen said. "It's short for Theodosia. I'm the grave mistake that Lorelai never meant to make. She was expecting Rory, not another kid. I'm Rory's twin sister. It's funny, right? You never heard of me and I never heard of you."

Max seemed stunned, before saying, "Is Lorelai home?"

"No, she's next door," Georgia said coming up to them.

Max asked, "I guess it means that she canceled?"

"No, she's at Cinnamon's wake," Sage said.

Max's eyes widened, "Whose wake?"

"Cinnamon," Aiden chimed in.

"She's a cat," Liberty said. She smiled wickedly, "Oh, look. There's Lorelai right now."

Lorelai was rushing over, looking a little freaked out, probably because Thea was talking to Max, and she thought Thea would say something to embarrass Lorelai or something.

Or maybe Lorelai thought it was freaky to see her boyfriend surrounded by a bunch of teenagers.

"Hey," Lorelai greeted Max.

"Hi," Max replied. "I was getting to know your other daughter, Thea, and her friends."

"Yeah, I hope they didn't spook ya," Lorelai replied with a forced giggle.

"No, no, they were just telling me that you were at the neighbor's cat's wake," Max explained.

Aiden motioned with his head and Thea nodded. They went down the sidewalk to Aiden's house because Thea clearly wasn't needed for that conversation, not that she wanted to hear it anyway.