Trigger Warning: There is sexual harassment in the section with:

If you see that, you may skip over that part if you want or need to.

Mr. Conn asked Thea, "What did you think of A Farewell to Arms?"

"At the end I was like 'what the hell'," Thea said. "I threw it out my open window because it pissed me off so much. I was rooting for this Hemingway guy to survive the war, and I was glad he did because he got blown up and shit. Then he escaped to Switzerland with Katherine and I was glad when she got pregnant, because they were going to be so happy living in the mountains. I found the scenes of them dancing together to be boring, but I liked it because they were happy. I was confused on why it didn't end there and then she and her child freaking died, Mr. Conn. Why did it end there? I had a reaction like that to that scene in A Storm of Swords. Rory heard me yelling 'what the fuck' repeatedly when I got to it."

"Don't ruin it for me," Mr. Conn said. "I'm not sure what scene you're talking about."

"Trust me, I'll let you figure it out for yourself," Thea said.

Although during a test, Mr. Conn, who was reading, said, "What the fuck?" to laughter of his students.

Thea went to Luke's diner for a quick cup of coffee to drink while Aiden went home to see if his dad sent him a letter from prison and Sage went straight to the inn because Sookie had a review from a food critic coming in. Georgia had volleyball practice after school so it left Liberty and Thea to go to Luke's.

So, she hung around the diner to talk to Liberty and Luke. She even ate a pastry and drank some coffee. She did some homework before heading on over to the inn because she was curious to see what the review entailed, even though she knew that it would be glowing.

After that, she took off to the inn and to the kitchen, where Rory was walking in.

"I'm looking," Lorelai stated. Rory and Thea walked in. In a mock announcer's voice, Lorelai stated, "Behold the thing that reads a lot and the other thing that does archery."

Rory dropped her bags, "Chocolate?"

"Glass measuring cup," Sookie stated. She tapped Lorelai, "Lorelai, look, look."

"I'm sorry," Lorelai replied.

Rory asked, "Jeez, who's naked?"

Thea went to look at the food.

"Uh, Lucian Mills – food critic," Lorelai replied.

"Yeah?" replied Rory. "How's his butt?"

"Oh, no," Lorelai replied.

"He did a review of the restaurant," Sage told Rory.

"Here it is," Lorelai replied.

Sookie said, "Is it – is it good? Is he mean? Should I cry?"

Thea found some strawberries and some chocolate spread. She opened the lid and ran a strawberry along the spread to eat while Lorelai read the review.

"'The words divine, delectable and delirious don't begin to describe the delicious experience of dining at the Independence Inn,'" Lorelai read. "Oh, I'm smelling rave!"

Sookie asked, "Really?"

"'Only chef Sookie St. James can make a simple salad of hot house tomatoes and assorted fresh herbs seem like a religious experience. Her lobster bisque is worth every sinful cream filled rich rip,'" Lorelai continued to read.

"See, I don't use that much cream," Sookie explained. "I just use a very concentrated lobster stock and it really makes it—"

"Sookie, he's not here," Lorelai interrupted.

"Okay, go on," Sookie replied.

Thea looked at Sage and smiled at him. He smiled back proudly.

"'The entrees are as heavenly as the starters, though the much lauded risotto was perfectly fine, it was the simple handkerchief pasta with brown sage in a butter sauce that sent me through the roof,'" Lorelai finished reading. "Sookie, this is unbelievable! I'm going to have this framed for the dining room!"

"Oh, yeah," Sookie said, not sounding excited. "That'd be swell. Can I see that again?"

"Yeah," Lorelai replied, handing the magazine to Sookie. "So, we should celebrate, huh?" She did a little dance towards Rory, "Girls night on the town?"

"I can't," Rory replied. "I have to study."

"You know I should really get started on this shopping list," Sookie stated.

Lorelai said, "What is going on here? We are young and fiery women. Studying? Shopping lists? Where's 'to hell with it all?' Where's 'throwing caution to the wind?' Where's – oh shoot – the linen delivery." She took off.

"You go girl," Rory replied.

Georgia had convinced Thea to have volleyball practice with her and two girls, Emiko, a half-Japanese and half-Mexican girl, and Mikayla, a half-black and half-white girl.

So, after school, they got dressed in their PE uniforms before going to the gym to have a few rounds of volleyball since Liberty had her job and Aiden had his job at the bookstore. Sage had gone to the inn.

After what was probably an hour of volleyball, they headed to the locker room to change.

"I bet Mr. Samuels is going to ask Ms. Ellery out," Emiko stated.

"I hope so," Georgia said. "Ms. Ellery needs a good lay. She's so tense."

Thea nodded, "I heard that he's going to bust into her class and serenade her with his violin."

"That's so sweet," Mikayla stated. "I wish my boyfriend would play me a song on his flute."

Emiko said to Thea, "Have you seen the way that Aiden and Sage look at you? It's like they want in your pants, respectively of course. I just wish that one of them would pick up their balls and ask you out already."

Thea felt awkward at that, since she was dating the both of them. She grabbed her silver dollar necklace that had a starburst on it with a fake diamond on it.

It was something that the two boys had gotten her for their 'one month anniversary of dating'.

"I heard that Mrs. Westerfield is sleeping with a student," Georgia said, noticing her friend's discomfort.

"Ew," Emiko said, "Who?"

The locker door burst open and Thea whirled around to see the male gym teacher standing there.

Thea tried to cover her chest with the shirt that she was holding.

The gym teacher demanded, "What are you four still doing here?"

The other girls tried to hide among the lockers because they were half-dressed.

"It's after school hours," the gym teacher continued. "Hurry up and get dressed and get out before I call the police for trespassing," His eyes seemed to linger uncomfortably longer on Thea.

She held her shirt closer to her body to hide her favorite black lace bralette. 

It probably didn't do any good considering he already saw her, but it was uncomfortable.

Why didn't he knock? Why did he barge in? What was he doing here?

"We'll hurry," Emiko said in a small voice. "Can you please leave so we can finish getting dressed?"

The gym teacher's eyes seemed to rake down Thea's body before he left the locker room, closing the door on his way out.

Thea had the urge to vomit, so she went to the nearest toilet stall and did just that.

And when she got home, Lorelai wasn't there. So, Thea took off the bralette, picked a different one to wear, and threw the old out, because she suddenly found that she hated it and took a very long shower. After that, she went to Luke's afterwards and asked, "Can I get a slice of cherry pie, please?"

Luke looked at her.

There must've been a look on her face, because he didn't say anything as he got her a slice of pie.

Luke asked, "Is everything okay, Teddy?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Thea lied. She could've said something about what happened at the school, but she didn't want to burden anyone with that story. She wasn't sure if anyone would believe her anyway.

Thea noticed Rory focusing on her work at a table. Her pencil broke and she threw it in frustration.

Luke got another slice of pie and went over to Rory's table. He set a plate down, "Here."

Rory asked, "What's that?"

"You look like you need pie," Luke said.

"I do?" asked Rory.

"Violent pencil tossing usually signals the need for pie," Luke replied.

Rory asked, "What if I'd thrown a pen?"

"I would've brought you a trout," Luke said.

Rory seemed confused, "What?"

"Libby makes the rules, I just carry them out," Luke stated.

Lorelai walked in, "Hey." She added, "Backwards baseball hat – new look for you. She's eating pie? Did she even have dinner?"

"You raised Rory," Luke replied. "I just serve."

Lorelai went to Rory, "Oh, hello, bookworm."

"Finally," Rory stated, "Where were you?"

Thea ended up tuning them out. She can always tell her mother what the gym teacher did, but she was sure the Georgia, Emiko, or Mikayla would tell their parents, so there was no need. Besides, she was sure that Lorelai would be pissed over what happened, but not quite as pissed she would be if it was Rory.

So, she stayed silent. Lorelai might not believe her anyway.

"You should've told me," Lorelai said.

"I couldn't," Rory replied.

"You couldn't tell me? You tell me everything," Lorelai replied.

Funny. Thea couldn't tell Lorelai anything at all, because she wasn't Rory.

"It was too humiliating," Rory replied.

Lorelai replied, "Oh, honey, you once told me that you loved Saved by the Bell. What couldn't be more humiliating than that?"

"I couldn't form the words," Rory said. "I couldn't even say it. I couldn't even comprehend it. It was...a D. I got a D. I've never gotten a D – ever," Rory replied.

"I know," Lorelai replied.

There. That was another reason why she couldn't tell Lorelai. Rory would have something more important, like a D, that would take Lorelai's concern.

"Even when I broke my arm and couldn't write for a month, I still got an A-," Rory replied.

"That was a different school," Lorelai replied.

Thea looked at her pie. She suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.

Why did her mother take Thea with her when it was clear that Rory was the favorite?

She left the diner and went to her home. She stuck some clothes in her backpack and went to Georgia's house, because she didn't want to be alone at home. She was fine with being alone, but she just didn't feel like it.

Annette let her in and Thea went to Georgia's room.

"I can't get it out of my head," Georgia said. "The way he just walked in without knocking and he didn't even apologize."

"I know," Thea said. "The way he looked at me gives me the shivers."

Georgia paced her room, "I don't know what to do. Why did he even go in there?"

"I don't know," Thea replied. She wanted to say that she would've told her mom, but Rory's D was more important, but she was sure that wouldn't fly well.

"We'll go to the principal early in the morning," Georgia replied. "I'll see if Mikayla and Emiko would want to tell him too."

Thea nodded, "Yeah. I just want to forget it like how I want to forget the Red Wedding."

Georgia tilted her head, "The Red Wedding?"

"A scene in A Storm of Swords," Thea said. "You should read the series because I don't want to ruin it for you."

"I'll read it one day," Georgia stated.

Thea knew that meant 'never' and she was fine with it.

Thea was nervous when she woke up in the morning and choked down a plate of scrambled eggs and a glass of orange juice, before changing her clothes.

She brushed her teeth (she had a toothbrush there) and went to the school, standing next to Emiko and Mikayla on the sidewalk, staring the school down. They were standing in a line, like some weirdoes. It felt ominous.

They were sexually harassed there in that locker room.

Georgia asked, "Are you three ready?"

No, Thea wanted to say. She swallowed and said, "Yeah."

They walked into the school and it felt like a few early stragglers stared at her wherever she went, like they knew but it was impossible for them to know.

The principal couldn't really do anything, which was crap, since nothing really happened.

"New rule," Georgia stated to the three when they left the office.

Thea felt like she was going to cry, "What?"

"Girls won't be alone in that locker room," Georgia replied. "No one goes in there alone and no one leaves alone. Spread that around."

Thea nodded and walked down the hallway after the three split up. She went to a guy who was leaning against a locker. She asked, "Do you have a can of Coke?"

"Three bucks," the guy said. He looked at her, "I also have chocolate chip cookies if you want that too."

"Yeah," Thea said. "How much would that be total?"

"I'll make it two bucks," the guy said. He went into the janitors closet and closed the door behind him.

Thea knew that the guy had cut a hole in the ceiling of the janitor's closet where he hid a mini-fridge where he stored sodas and other 'contraband' snacks/drinks, which he sold in the hallway.

So, after a few minutes, he came back with a packet of cookies and a can of soda for her,

"Thanks." She gave him the money, "Did you hear that Coach Rivers barged in on some girls who were changing in the locker room without knocking? They were in various states of undress."

The guy blinked at that, "Whoa."

"Yeah," Thea replied. "That's what I heard."

"I got to tell my sister about that," the guy said, looking horrified. "I've gotta warn her."

Thea nodded, "Yeah."

The guy took off and Thea felt like she may have failed on the principal but at least she can warn other girls of what happened.

"I saw Mr. Garnier's car in Ms. Diaz's driveway this morning," Aiden said.

Thea looked at Liberty, Georgia, and Sage, who seemed confused. "Is that a euphemism of some sort?"

"No," Aiden replied. "I mean, I walked by Ms. Diaz's house and I saw his car parked in the driveway. They definitely had sex."

Sage asked, "Isn't she dating someone though?"

"I thought he was dating someone," Thea said. She took out the packet of cookies she bought that morning and opened it.

"Who cares," Liberty said. "Mr. Rivers sexually harassed some girls in the locker room. He walked in without knocking and they were in various states of undress."

Thea and Georgia looked at each other uncomfortably, "Yeah."

Aiden asked, "Did they tell the principal?"

"I'm sure they did." Thea stated angrily, "And the principal wouldn't do a damn thing about it."

Aiden and Sage looked at her.

Sage grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze before letting it go.

She can tell Aiden. He had been assaulted by his own mother. Unfortunately, she didn't have a parent who was willing to commit murder for her.

After school she went to do homework with Aiden at his house. She ended up telling Aiden about what happened to her, crying while at it. He hugged her and told her to tell Lorelai, because she would appreciate it.

"Hey, Mom," Thea started as she walked in the house.

"Oh, good," Lorelai said. "Rory missed her test, but I got a phone call saying that Headmaster Charleston would be willing to give her extra credit work to make up for the twenty percent that Rory missed."

Thea forced a smile instead, "That's good." She went upstairs wondering why she even bothered to try.