On Saturday, Rosanna told Luna about her surprise school transfer, so when Luna got off work at the diner, they went to get new school supplies.

While Luna took off to a different aisle to look for something, Rosanna looked at the folders they had.

How many should she get?

"Are you okay?"

She flinched.

It was Brad.

Rosanna looked at him. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Brad replied, "You don't look okay."

It had been an entire week since he broke up with her. It took like two days for him to be attached at the mouth with Becky.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rosanna said. "Shouldn't you be with Becky?" She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but she couldn't quite manage it.

Brad made a pained face, "In a second. I just wanted to see if you're okay."

Rosanna looked at the folder she was holding, to hide the fact that she was excited that he cared about her again. That she was worth his time again. She moved closer to the shelf, the edge pressing right into a burn that hadn't quite scarred over yet. The pain was a fresh reminder that he had done that to her. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Brad huffed, like he was irritated that Rosanna was being difficult, "Fine, be like that."

Rosanna shrugged in response. That was the problem: she never knew what he wanted out of her. One wrong move, he would blow up at her, calling her stupid.

Maybe he wanted her to throw herself into his arms, so he could tell Becky that she tried to get back together with him and he heroically 'turned her down because I'm with you (Becky) now, babe.'

Brad stepped closer to Rosanna and leaned over.

For a brief moment, Rosanna thought Brad was going to kiss her, but instead, Brad twirled a hair curl around his finger and tugged lightly on it. He whispered, "I really miss you, Rosie. I think I've made the biggest mistake in my life." He let go of the rain curl and walked away.

Rosanna watched as Brad went over to Becky and put his arm around her shoulders. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and reality crashed down all around Rosanna.

If he thought he made a mistake, he wouldn't do that to Becky. If he made a mistake, he would break up with Becky and get on his knees, begging and pleading to take Rosanna back.

Luna came back into the aisle, holding four notebooks. She stared after Brad and Becky, rolled her eyes and said to Rosanna, "Girl, you could do way better than that piece of gutter trash." 

"I know," Rosanna replied. "He said he misses me."

"If he did, he would pick up his tiny balls, dump Becky, and grovel for your forgiveness," Luna said.

She wouldn't say that if she knew the real Brad. No one knew the real Brad except for Rosanna.

Not even Lorelai and Rory knew what Brad had done to her.

Maybe Brad's parents had an inkling because she was sure that they had heard Brad screaming at her about something.

"Look," Luna said, excitedly. "These notebooks have a saying on them. They say 'the best way to be happy is just to let go of everything that's making you sad.'" She was grinning.

Rosanna asked, "What are you trying to tell me, Moon?"

"That Brad is making you sad, and you need to let him go to be happy again," Luna told her.

Maybe Luna had a point. It was clear that Brad wants Becky. What he meant by 'missing her and he made the biggest mistake of his life' was probably going to be just another unanswered question that she had.

Rosanna looked at some pens, "Hey, look at these pens." 

Luna looked at them and laughed, "I think my favorite is 'Failure is always an option.'"

"Mine is 'It will probably get worse'," Rosanna said. 'You can be replaced' hit a little too close to home, because Brad had replaced her with Becky.

"Mine is 'It will probably get worse'," Rosanna said. 'You can be replaced' hit a little too close to home, because Brad had replaced her with Becky. "Yeah, I'm getting a couple of these pens." She grabbed a couple of packages of pens.

"Me too," Luna said, grabbing a few packages of the pens. "These would motivate me more than the motivational ones."

So, with her new notebooks and demotivational pens, Rosanna was ready to tackle Chilton.

After a late start, Lorelai accidentally overslept because her alarm clock didn't go off and wore the worst outfit known to man-kind; they finally got to Chilton.

They looked up at the school.

"I remember it being smaller," Rory said.

"Yeah," Lorelai agreed. "And less..."

Rosanna offered, "Hang them upside down from the bell tower?"

"I was going to say 'off with their heads'," Rory corrected.

"Either works," Lorelai said, tilting her head up.

Rory asked, "What are you looking at?"

"I'm just trying to see if there's a hunchback up in that bell tower," Lorelai said.

Rory asked, "So, how do Roxie and I look?"

Lorelai smiled, "You both look great."

"Really?" asked Rory.

Lorelai said, "Really. You two are amazing kids. You both have earned this. You two just go in there and show them what smart really is. I love you. Just call me if you need me."

Rosanna almost snorted because she did not 'earn' her spot. Her grandmother basically had to bribe the headmaster to get Rosanna's ass into Chilton.

Rory asked, "You're kidding, right?"

"No," Lorelai said. "Call me if you need anything. I'm great at making up dirty cheers."

Rosanna was honestly curious to know what the dirty cheers entailed.

"You have to go in with us," Rory said.

Rosanna nodded, "Yeah. You do."

"Rory, Roxie, come on," Lorelai said.

"You have to meet the headmaster," Rosanna told her.

"Well, look at me, Rory, Roxie," Lorelai said. "I can't meet anybody who does anything in there."

Rosanna looked at Lorelai's pink tie-dye v-neck shirt and denim cut-off shorts and cowboy boots. She wondered when Lorelai even had time to get any of those clothes. Or why she chose any of that. Or why Lorelai didn't just throw on some clothes that she worn yesterday.

"Mom!" whined Rory.

"No," Lorelai said. "I look like that chick from the Dukes of Hazzard."

"Come on, Mom," Rosanna said. "Daisy Duke is a total babe."

"This is our first day," Rory added. "You are not getting out of going in there with us. Period."

"Oh no," Rosanna said, in a mock scared tone. "She has said 'period' which let's us know that she's being serious."

They got out of the jeep and Rosanna looked at two women who stopped in their walking to stare at Lorelai's outfit with clear judgment.

"Good morning," Lorelai greeted, picking up her overcoat, which fell on the ground.

The two women gave each other a look and then walked away, still clearly judging Lorelai's outfit.

"Oh, well, we're gonna be best friends," Lorelai said, putting on her overcoat as they headed to the school. "So, where do we go?"

Rory took a piece of paper out of her blazer pocket and looked at it, "Uh, the Ambroise building."

"Which is?" asked Lorelai

"The big, scary one," replied Rory.

"They're all big, scary buildings," Rosanna stated and pointed at one, "Except that one. It's actually tall and intimidating."

A man approached them, "Lost?"

"Oh, yeah," Lorelai said. "Uh, we're looking for the headmaster's office, the Ambroise building."

"Ah, okay," the man said. "Well, this is it, right here. You just go inside, down the stairs, make a left, and the headmaster's office is at the end of the hall."

"Great," Lorelai said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the man said.

Rory grabbed Lorelai's arm to go.

However, the man clearly had other ideas because he extended a hand towards Lorelai, "Um, I'm Ian Jack. My daughter, Julia, goes to school here."

Rosanna found herself thinking that Ian Jack sounded oddly close to Union Jack.

Lorelai shook the man's hand, "Hi. I'm Lorelai Gilmore. Um, these are my daughters, Rory and Roxie."

Ian looked at them, "Your daughters?" He was clearly surprised by how young Lorelai was and how Rory and Rosanna were clearly high school students. "Really?"

Lorelai said, "Yup."

Ian said, "Wow, that's great. Uh, I mean, daughters are a great thing."

Lorelai said, "We're big fans. That's why I had two."

"She got two for the price of one," Rosanna muttered.

"Yeah. Uh, yeah." Ian asked, "So, is your husband here? I'd love to meet him."

Rosanna and Rory looked at each other over Ian's and Lorelai's awkward flirting.

Lorelai said, "I'm not married."

Ian said, "Ah."

Lorelai said, "I'd love to meet your wife, though."

Ian replied, "I'm divorced."

"Shame," Lorelai replied, smiling.

Ian said, "Yeah."

"Excuse me," Rory interrupted. "Roxie and I really gotta..."

"Right!" Lorelai said, "We gotta go meet the big guy, and I gotta, uh, get back to work."

Lorelai, Rory, and Rosanna started to walk away.

Ian called after Lorelai, "Oh, where do you work?"

Lorelai walked back to him, "At an inn. The Independence Inn. I run it."

Ian seemed surprised for some reason, "Really?"

Lorelai clarified, "In a different outfit, of course."

Ian laughed, "Well, it was nice to meet you, Lorelai. Good luck in school, Rory and Roxie. I'll tell Julia to look out for you both."

Rory said, "Great, thanks."

To Lorelai, Ian said, "See you." He walked away.

Lorelai stared after him, smiling to herself, "What a nice, nice man."

Rosanna asked, "It's obvious that you're feeling pretty good about yourself."

Lorelai continued to stare after Ian, "Yeah."

Rory asked, "Do you want me to get you a mirror?"

Lorelai's smile faded, "I'm back. Let's go."

They walked into the Ambroise building together.

"He said down the stairs," Rosanna told them.

"Yeah," Rory said.

"Oh, good, more big stuff," Lorelai said.

They walked down the staircase.

"Turn left," Rory said.

Rosanna spotted three girls looking after them with matching unimpressed faces. She smiled and waved at them, before walking down the hallway and coming across double doors.

After a moment of standing in front of the doors, Lorelai asked, "You ready?"

In unison, Rory and Rosanna said, "No."

They stood there in silence again, before Lorelai asked, "You ready?"

"Yes," Rory said.

"Roxie?" asked Lorelai.

Rosanna sighed, "Yes."

Lorelai and Rory pushed open the doors and they walked into the room together.

They walked up to the secretary who was busy working at her desk.

Lorelai cleared her throat, "Um, excuse me." The secretary suddenly looked up, Lorelai jumped back slightly, nearly walked right into Rosanna. "Oh! How...wow, hi. I'm Lorelai Gilmore. These are my daughters, Lorelai Gilmore and Rosanna Gilmore... 'cause I named this one after me and their father named this one after the Toto song because he had a brief Toto phase. I was in the hospital all whacked out on Demerol. Never mind. Um, but we call this one Rory and the other one, Roxie. Rory is short for Lorelai, but she'll answer to either one, or even 'Hey, you' and Roxie is short for Rosanna but she'll answer to either Rosanna or Roxie, depending on the—" Rory nudged Lorelai to get her to stop rambling, "Uh, is the headmaster here?"

The secretary stood up, "One moment." She walked through a door behind the three Gilmores.

Lorelai whispered to Rory and Rosanna, "See, that's what happens when you go to bed with your makeup on."

"That's messed up," Rosanna told Lorelai.

The double doors opened and the secretary said, "Headmaster Charleston will see you now."

"Great, great," Lorelai said. "Thanks."

They walked into the headmaster's office.

"Ms. Gilmore, I'm Headmaster Charleston," the headmaster greeted, going to shake Lorelai's hand.

"Hi," Lorelai said, glancing around. "Wow, it's really nice to meet – Mom. Um, excuse me." She went over to Emily. What are you doing here?"

Emily walked over to Rosanna and Rory, "I came to wish my granddaughters luck on their first day of school."

Lorelai started, "But—"

"Rory, Roxie, you both look wonderful in that uniform!" Emily had gone over to them, "Or what's left of it." She looked at the shortness of Anna's skirt – which still followed the dress-code and hid the burn scars on her thighs.

Rosanna awkwardly tugged at her skirt.

Lorelai said, "Uh, you didn't have to come all the way out here, Mom."

I thought the school was five minutes away, Rosanna thought, finding it weird how Lorelai said 'all the way out here'.

Emily said, "Well, this gave me a chance to make sure that Hanlin here takes good care of Rory and Roxie."

Lorelai spoke to the headmaster, "You're Hanlin."

"Hanlin Charleston," replied the headmaster.

Emily explained, "Hanlin's wife and I are on the symphony fundraising committee together."

"Wow, that's great," Lorelai said.

Headmaster Charleston spoke to Lorelai, "Your father and I are golf rivals. We're still fighting it out to see which one is worse."

"Oh, yes," Emily said. "We're all old friends."

Lorelai said, "Well, there's nothing like friends. Especially if they're old...ones." She looked at a picture on the headmaster's desk, "Cute kids."

The headmaster looked at the photo and seemed to beam with pride, "Ah, yes, my two sons Rhys and—" He winced slightly, "Reid."

Rosanna wondered what Reid did to get his own dad to grimace slightly.

"They both attend Chilton too," Emily added.

The headmaster said, "Anyway, would you like to take off your coat and have a seat?"

Lorelai shook her head, "Oh, no. No, I'm fine."

The headmaster explained, "I'm afraid they were a little overzealous with the furnace this morning. It's quite warm in here."

Anna looked at the fire going in the fireplace. If they had the heat on, why did this man have a fire going in a fireplace?

Lorelai said, "I like it warm."

Emily said, "Lorelai, take off your coat and sit down. You don't want Hanlin to think you're rude."

Lorelai reluctantly took off her coat. Emily looked even more disapproving of Lorelai's outfit than she had been with Rosanna's short skirt.

Lorelai gave an embarrassed smile about her outfit, "Laundry day."

"Hanlin, did you know that Rory has a 4.0 grade average and that Rosanna has a 3.9 and played almost every lead in her school plays?" asked Emily trying to divert the attention off of Lorelai's choice in clothes.

Lorelai said, "I'm sure he does, Mom."

Emily said, "These two are very special girls. You take good care of them."

"We'll do our best, Emily," Headmaster Charleston said.

Lorelai said, "Oh, God. Rory and Roxie won't be a problem. They're totally low maintenance, you know, like a Honda. "You know, they're just easy, just...nice office."

Emily said, "Well, I don't think we should take up anymore of your precious time. Hanlin, it was lovely to see you. Give Bitty our love."

Headmaster Charleston said, "Tell Richard I'll see him at the club Sunday."

Emily said to Anna and Rory, "Have a wonderful day, Rory, Roxie. I want to hear all about it." She spoke to Lorelai, "Do you need a ride or is your horse parked outside?"

Roxie had to hold back a giggle at Emily's jab.

Lorelai said to the headmaster, "It's so nice to meet you." She said to her two kids, "Have a great day." She kissed Rory's forehead and patted Roxie on the arm. She started to leave.

"Oh, you don't want to forget your coat," Headmaster Charleston called after her.

Lorelai turned back, "Oh, no, 'cause that would be embarrassing." She took the coat, then walked out of the office.

Headmaster Charleston had the two girls sit on the chairs in front of his desk as he looked through their transcript folders. He spoke to them, "You're obviously two bright girls, Miss Gilmores."

Rory said, "Thank you."

The headmaster continued, "Good grades, the teachers like you. You, however, do not have a lot of social activities, though."

Rory said, "Oh, well, just living in Stars Hollow is kind of a social activity, actually."

Headmaster Charleston said, "Nothing in your school appealed to you?"

Rory explained, "I work at my mother's inn after school sometimes. And I was in the German Club for a while, but there were only three of us, and then two left for the French Club after seeing Schindler's List, so..."

The headmaster asked, "What are your aspirations?"

Rory said, "I want to go to Harvard and study Journalism and Political Science."

Rosanna looked at the picture of Reid and Rhys that was on the headmaster's desk. They were clearly brothers since they had similar facial faces and the same five-head because those foreheads were huge. They looked to be about the same height, but one had armpit length dark hair who kept getting Rosanna's attention. She wondered who was who.

She tuned back in to Headmaster Charleston asking, "Why do you wish to be Christiane Amanpour?"

Rory said, "Well, I don't wish to be her, exactly. I just want to do what she does."

"Which is?" asked Headmaster Charleston.

Rory explained, "Travel, uh, see the world up close, report on what's really going on, be a part of something big."

Headmaster Charleston asked, "And to be part of something big you have to be on TV? Why not lead the police on a high-speed chase? That's a quicker way to achieve this goal."

Rory explained, "Being on TV has nothing to do with it. Maybe I'll be a journalist and write books or articles about what I see. I just want to be sure that I see...something." The headmaster looked down at Rory's papers. "You'll notice the debating team's also missing from my resume."

The headmaster looked at Rosanna's papers and then at the red-head, "I see that you're a part of the drama club, work part time at Weston's Bakery, but I noticed that you dropped the book club. Why is that?"

Rosanna was sure that, 'My now ex-boyfriend forced me to drop the book club so I could focus only on him,' wouldn't fly well with Headmaster Charleston and Rory. So, she lied, "My boss, Fran, and our co-worker, Marjorie, are getting up there in age, and I thought they needed help."

The headmaster nodded, "What are your aspirations? Do you want to study journalism like your sister?"

"Uh, no," Rosanna replied. "I want to study psychology."

"Why?" asked Headmaster Charleston.

'I want to find out why my ex did to me what he did,' probably wouldn't fly well, either. So, Rosanna lied, "It's interesting why people do things the things they do, right? What drives a person to kill a person? It's interesting to figure out stuff like that."

"And where do you want to study at?" asked Headmaster Charleston.

"Yale, Stanford, or Princeton," Rosanna replied. "I'm open to many options."

The headmaster asked, "And you don't want to go on to act in Hollywood or make it on Broadway?"

"I'm not guaranteed to make it big," Rosanna replied. "Sure, getting my name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and seeing myself on the big screen would be so exciting, but acting is a hobby. There is a small chance that I'll make it big, but I like to keep my goals framed in reality."

The headmaster set the files aside, "I've known your grandparents for quite some time."

Rory said, "We know."

Headmaster continued, "In fact, I was at a party at their house just last week where I had the most delicious lobster puffs I've ever eaten. I'm very fond of them."

Rory said, "That's nice."

"Yeah, the lobster puff are very good," Rosanna agreed.

"None of this, however, will be of any benefit to you both," Headmaster Charleston told them.

Well, okay then, Anna thought.

"Chilton has one of the highest academic standards of any school in America. You two may have been the smartest girls at Stars Hollow, but this is a different place. The pressures are greater, the rules are stricter, and the expectations are higher. If you make it through, you will have received one of the finest educations one can get, and there should be no reason why you should not achieve all your goals. However, since you are starting late and are not used to this highly competitive atmosphere, there is a good chance you will fail. That is fine. Failure is a part of life, but not a part of Chilton," Headmaster Charleston told them. "Understand?"

"Noted," Rosanna replied, wondering if the headmaster was threatening them in some way.

The headmaster handed them a folder each, "Take these to Miss James in the administration office across the hall."

"Thank you," Rosanna said, taking the folder as they got up, grabbing their backpacks. "Have a good day, Headmaster Charleston."

The headmaster blinked, seeming a little caught off guard at the pleasantries. "Have a good day as well, Roxie."

Rosanna and Rory left the office to head on over to the administration office.

After someone got done at the desk, Rory and Anna walked up to a woman, setting their folders down.

"Hi," Rory said. "We're looking for Miss James."

"Names?" asked Miss James.

"Lorelai Gilmore," Rory said. "But I go by Rory.

"Rosanna Gilmore," Rosanna said. "I go by Roxie."

Miss James set down some forms and pens in a rather rude manner, "Fill this out, please."

Rosanna was a little bothered by how rudely Miss James set the stuff down and they went over to a table together to fill out the forms.

After filling out the forms and turning them in, Miss James handed papers to them, "Here's the dining room, the science hall, and the theater. Here's your locker numbers, here's your schedules, take this map. Here's the rules of the school and the Chilton Honor Code. Here are the words to the school song, which must be recited upon demand. This can happen any place, any time. If you do it in Latin you get extra credit. Do you have any questions?"

Rory seemed a little intimidated, "Uh, not at the moment."

Rosanna asked, "So are we allowed to die at any moment?"

Miss James didn't look impressed at Rosanna's question, but continued, "If you do, you can make an appointment to see your guidance counselor, Mr. Winters or Mr. Synder. They handle everything but bulimia and pregnancy. For that, you'll have to go to the nurse or Coach Rubens. Welcome to Chilton."

Rosanna wondered if pregnancy was a common occurance in Chilton.

Once they left the administration office, they compared schedules because back at Stars Hollow High, the administration had them in different classes so it'll be 'less grouping'. However, their first class of the day was with Mr. Medina, so they went to class together, with Rosanna using the map to navigate the school.

After getting to the classroom, they showed Mr. Medina their schedules. 

"Ah, take an empty seat," Mr. Medina told them, motioning to three empty seats.

Rosanna knew how seats work. "Well, damn, there goes my plan on sitting on that girl's lap."

Mr. Medina seemed to take Rosanna's remark in good stride because he chuckled, "That's on me for saying 'empty seat.' Just take a seat."

Rosanna went and sat down in the empty seat that was next to one of the headmaster's sons. It wasn't the one with long hair though.

She took out her red notebook and the 'failure is always an option' pen because Luna said it was her favorite and Rosanna just wanted to be close to her best friend.

While class was slowly coming to an end, Mr. Medina was saying, "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..."

A girl raised her hand, "Dickens."

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

That girl raised her hand, "George Sand and Balzac."

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

"David Copperfield," that girl said, not even bothering to raise her hand.

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

The door opened and a blond guy walked in. Rosanna shifted slightly uncomfortable. The guy reminded Rosanna too much of Brad – both were good looking and they knew how to use it to get whatever they wanted.

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

Dugray said, "Sir." He handed Mr. Medina a note.

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

"Much better, sir," Dugray said.

"Good," Mr. Medina told him. "Take your seat, please." He continued his lecture, "Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Little Dorrit, all major influences on Leo Tolstoy."

Dugray seemed to leer at her. Rosanna shifted again, trying to slouch down in her seat. She knew what that look meant – Brad used it on her plenty of times. A few times, it was before he slapped her – most of the time it was before he fucks her.

Brad was extremely rough with her, even when she begged and pleaded for him to stop because she was hurting, he always told her, 'shut up, I'm about to finish'. And then never had the decency to hold her afterwards, leaving her in tears.

Rosanna guessed that there was always that one good-looking asshole in every school.

It was like they could tell that she had been used which now made her fair game to every biggest loser out there.

And it was just her luck that she ended up attracting another one.

The bell rang and Rosanna cursed Brad (and Dugray) for making her get lost in her thoughts, because she didn't hear what Mr. Medina had to say. Oh, well, at least Rory took notes.

"Class dismissed," Mr. Medina said.

Dugray said, "It looks like we've got ourselves a couple of Marys."

Rosanna was confused over that and she heard the headmaster's son scoff and muttered, "What a piece of—"

"Miss, um, Gilmores, could you two come up here, please?" Mr. Medina called for them.

Rosanna and Rory went up to the teacher's desk.

"Here are last week's study materials." Mr. Medina handed them a giant binder, "There'll be a test on them tomorrow, but since you're both new, you can take a makeup on Monday. Will that be sufficient time?"

Rosanna looked at the giant binder, feeling overwhelmed already. These were last week's notes? She could do some serious damage with this!

"Monday?" asked Rory. "Sure, that's fine."

"Yeah," Rosanna replied, still baffled by the huge binder. It was probably bigger than her head.

"Good," Mr. Medina said. "That's just an overview. It would be very helpful to you to borrow one of the other student's personal notes. They tend to be more detailed."

Rosanna wondered, How was that even possible?

"More detailed than this?" asked Rory, sounding like she was in equal disbelief.

"It seems daunting right now, I know," Mr. Medina replied, looking somewhat apologetic.

"No, no," Rory replied. "It's okay. It'll be fine."

"Remember to get those notes," Mr. Medina said. "They'll be a lifesaver."

Rosanna found herself thinking that she'll probably end up needing a lifesaver if she went swimming with this binder.

Rory and Rosanna walked out of the classroom and almost ran into that girl who kept answering all of Mr. Medina's questions.

"Oh, god," Rosanna said. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there."

"I'm Paris," the girl said.

"Hi," Rosanna replied.

"I know who you two are, too," Paris said. "Lorelai and Rosanna Gilmore from Stars Hollow."

Rory said, "Oh, I'm Lorelai, but you can call me Rory."

"And you can call me Roxie," Rosanna said.

Paris asked, "Are either of you going for the Franklin?"

Rory asked, "The what?"

"Nice innocent act," Paris said. "At least I know you're not going for drama club."

"Oh, drama club is my sister's thing," Rory replied. "But what's the Franklin?"

"What's the Franklin?" asked Rosanna.

"The Franklin," Paris repeated. "The school paper, are either of you going out for it?"

"Uh, no," Rosanna replied.

"Yeah, we have to find our lockers first," Rory said.

"I'm gonna be editor next year," Paris told them.

"Yeah, I hope you make it," Rosanna said. "You know, Mr. Medina said that we need someone's notes. With the way you were answering his questions, I bet you're very meticulous with your note taking. You know, if you loan me your notes, I'll stay out of your way by not trying out for the Franklin and I'll even make sure Rory stays out of your way, and we'll just go separate ways with our lives. So do we have a deal?"

Paris seemed to be mulling it over, "I'm also the top of the class and I intend to be valedictorian when I graduate."

"Okay, good luck with that," Rosanna replied.

Paris handed over her binder of notes, "Just stay out of my way and I'll stay out of your way." She walked away in a huff.

"Well, that was easy," Rosanna told Rory.

"Yeah, you sure do know how to sweet talk 'em," Rory said. 

They both took off in different directions. Rory went up the hallway and Rosanna went down the hallway, looking at the lockers, trying to find hers.

"Hey, Mary," someone called. "Hey, Mary."

Rosanna continued on, until she felt someone touch her arm. She flinched and whirled around, looking at Dugray. "What?"

"Didn't you hear me calling you?" asked Dugray.

"My name's Rosanna," she told him.

"I'm Tristan," Dugray said.

Didn't ask, Rosanna wanted to say. Instead, she said, "Yeah, hi."

Dugray asked, "So, you're new?"

"Yeah, first day for me and my sister," Rosanna replied. 

"Medina's class is rough," Dugray told her.

"It really wasn't," Rosanna replied. She had to turn around and go up the hallway, because her locker name wasn't in any of those ranges.

Dugray followed her. "You know, I could loan you my notes." He seemed to step closer to Rosanna, looming over her.

Brad loomed over her, sneering at her in a way that terrified her. She never knew what she was getting when he sneered down at her like that. He pushed her down onto the bed before getting on top of her—

"What the hell did you say to her?" a female voice called out.

A clearly Mexican girl stomped up to Dugray. He had taken a step away from Rosanna, because he never saw a girl look that terrified before.

Dugray started, "I didn't—"

"Get away from her," the girl ordered, motioning for Dugray to go away.

Dugray must've noticed that they were causing a scene, because other students were now watching them, so he took off.

"He didn't say anything to me," Rosanna defended. The girl that saved her gave her an extremely disbelieving look. "He just reminded me of someone, that's all."

"Well, he won't take no for an answer," the girl said. "If he bugs you, just cause a scene. Yell, 'I said no' and he'll eventually leave you alone because you're getting looks. I just hate that he thinks he's entitled to a girl because he think he's hot."

"He kind of is, though," Rosanna admitted.

The girl looked at her, "You can do so much better than him."

Before the girl could take off, Rosanna asked, "Why does he call me Mary?"

The girl looked disgusted, "He thinks you look like a virgin, like the Virgin Mary. If he thought you looked like a 'slut'—" She used air quotes, "He would call you Mary Magdalene." There must've been some look on Rosanna's face, "Yeah. That's what he gets for judging a book by its cover. Apparently the wheels aren't going round and round on his bus."

Rosanna liked this girl and she had a feeling that Luna would like her as well. The girl took off and Rosanna found Rory standing in the hallway surrounded by what looked like a broken project, "What happened here?"

"I accidentally destroyed Paris's model project," Rory explained.

Rosanna said, "Maybe you should've said 'nice fucking model' because that might've soothed the pain."

Rory rolled her eyes and shook her head before going to the nearest boy who was walking by, "Excuse me. My sister and I need Mrs. Ness, History?"

"It's behind you," the boy said, pointing at the classroom.

"Of course it is," Rory grumbled, slamming her locker close.

Rosanna and Rory walked in the classroom together.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Paris said, looking at Rory.

Rosanna was thinking the same thing because she spotted Dugray in this class as well.

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

Rory and Rosanna took some seats.

"Hey, Marys," Dugray greeted.

Rosanna pointedly ignored him.

Mrs. Ness said, "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?"

Paris said, "Yes."

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

"Nope," replied Paris.

"All right, you will receive an incomplete for this project," Mrs. Ness told her.

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

Mrs. Ness asked, "Who are you?"

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

"Shut up," Paris hissed at her.

Mrs. Ness looked at her roster, "I don't have a Rory Gilmore. I have a Lorelai and a Rosanna Gilmore."

Rory said, "That's me."

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

Rory said, "Yes. I mean, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. And I wrecked her project. My locker got stuck."

Paris said, "Just stay out of this."

Mrs. Ness said, "Do you go by Rory or Lorelai?"

Rory said, "Whatever. It's not her fault."

Mrs. Ness said, "I need you to pick one."

"One what?" asked Rory.

"One name," Mrs. Ness replied.

"Rory," replied Rory.

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

Rory replied, "Just before class."

Mrs. Ness said, "Very convenient." She said it like it was a convenient excuse that Paris and Rory cooked up together.

"Her broken project is just outside the classroom if you look," Rosanna pointed out.

Rory explained, "Yes it is. My locker got stuck and when I opened it—"

"Stop it!" interrupted Paris.

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

"Fine," Rory said.

"No," Paris said.

"Why not?" asked Rory.

Paris snapped, "I don't want your help!"

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

"Just stay out of this," Paris said.

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

"Rory, please," Rosanna interrupted. "If Paris doesn't want your help, that's fine. Please respect her decision and stop hounding her."

"Yes, respect my decision," Paris said.

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

"Yes," Paris said, sitting down.

To Rory, Mrs. Ness said, "As long as you're standing..." To the class, she said, "Class, we have two new students. Say hello to Rory and Rosanna Gilmore."

"Hi, Rory and Rosanna," the class said in unison.

"Hello, Marys," Dugray said in the way the male Animaniacs said when they said 'Hello, nurse'.

Great, Dugray just ruined Animaniacs for her.

Mrs. Ness had her students do the presentations and after that was done, Mrs. Ness read passages from a book and asked questions. "Let's try another passage. 'The Romanists have, with great adroitness, drawn three 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 Gilmore." Mrs. Ness asked, "And what year did Martin Luther address the Christian nobility?"

"1520," Rory said quickly once again.

"Very good, Miss Gilmore," Mrs. Ness said. The bell rang, "Until next time, class."

Paris dropped her history binder on Rosanna's desk and went over to Rory's desk.

"See you tomorrow, Mary," Dugray said to Rosanna.

Rosanna hated this guy.

"You too, Other Mary," Dugray said to Rory.

Rory said, "The name's Rory."

The last class of the day was psychology with Mr. Carnathan. Interestingly enough, the girl from the hallway that morning was in class and the headmaster's other son.

The headmaster's other son had asked Rosanna, "Do you have a pen I can borrow?"

The hallway girl, her name was Trinity, Rosanna later learned, groaned, "Jesus Christ, Reid. It's almost the end of the school day. How do you not have anything?"

Rosanna passed Reid the pen that said, 'You're going to fuck it up at some point.'

Reid had to do a double take when he got his pen.

"Okay, class," Mr. Carnathan started once everyone was seated. "We'll be doing a year-long school project called The Memory Map and it's very interesting."

Rosanna thought it sounded very interesting.

"It's to collect the memories of spaces. Think about all the memories that have been made just about anywhere. Think about the first day of school, when you sat in this very classroom, sitting in the very seat you are at right now. Think about who may have sat right there last year. You will always have the memory of this being the place where you just found about memory-mapping. You don't have to focus on it right now. Like I said, it's a year-long project of course. We'll focus on other things."

Rosanna knew what her project was going to be. It was going to be all about her relationship with Brad and the places he made her cry. It was going to hurt like hell, but maybe once she untangled all of the memories, she'll find her answer in them. Did Brad really hate her that much? After all, actions speak louder than words.

After the teacher got done explaining, he made them write down their first memory. It was just a writing exercise before they really started their project.

So, Rosanna decided to go with the first three memories of where she cried in public.

I like to think that there was something wrong with my middle school teachers, because every single one of them made me cry. I like to think that making me cry was the only way to start their day and afternoon. I wasn't the only one that they targeted, but they seemed to get off on seeing me cry

The first one that made me cry was Mrs. Machado.

She was my sixth grade teacher and she probably had a black heart where her heart should've been. She was the one teacher that had a pointer that she used. Every time she announced that we had a test, I used to bite my fingernails. No lie, I would have a pile of chewed up fingernails around me. It wasn't even subtle, especially when I had my nails painted. There would be a pile of red or blue fingernails around me.

I was the go-to kid when there was a test because if there was a test that day, someone would be, 'Judging from Roxie's fingernail pile, we're having a test today.'

So, she hands back the tests and I honestly can't do it, because math is my worst subject and I count on my fingers. She always allowed calculators on our tests, so I took out my calculator, I know I wasn't the only one, but for this test, apparently calculators weren't allowed.

She turns around and breaks my calculator in half with her pointless pointer. She goes, "Trying to pull a fast one, are you, Annie?"

I don't know why she targeted me specifically, because I saw a few others hastily shoving their calculators in their backpacks.

She continued her tirade, "What are you going to do, count on your fingers, Annie?" She wiggled her fingers in my face. "You're the only one in my class that still uses your fingers." She even grabbed my hand to hold up and took one look at my chewed up fingernails, "Ew. God. Lord. Well, when you're a grown-up at a business meeting what are you going to do? Count on your fingers? No!"

I was in near tears from embarrassment, "I-I c-c-can b-bring a calculator to those business meetings."

"Oh, please," Mrs. Machado said. "Do you think in the future people are going to bring calculators everywhere they go?"

At that point, I ended up breaking down in tears. I never got an apology.

The second teacher was one who I will call Mr. Varga and he was my seventh grade teacher. He did awful things to students. He always started class by clearing his throat. That wasn't awful but it was really gross. He would give pop quizzes every two weeks, grade them on the spot and put them in order from highest grade to lowest grade. Then Mr. Varga would get up and write everyone's grade on the board, from best to worst.

"Time to put your grades on the board," Mr. Varga said, getting up to write down our grade on the board. "Some of you need to see how low your score really is compared to the rest of the class."

That day someone got a 10.

And Mr. Varga seemed to be staring right at me.

He passed out the graded papers and my classmates started whispering around me.

"Who got the 10? Who got the 10?" one guy said.

Who got the 10?

I got the 10.

No one else needed to know who got the 10 but Mr. Varga decided that everyone should know about my 10.

He 'tripped' when handing over my test and that test floated right down in the middle of the floor with my name written on in it dark blue ink and with my 10 circled in red.

I started crying then and there.

I was called Ten for the rest of the school year and when you go in a packed classroom and ask, "Who got the 10?" You will get a reply of "Roxie got the 10" and laughs.

This one is from elementary school and was in fifth grade. Her name is Ms. McKinty. She had us sit in a circle so she could keep an eye on every single one of us. You know she was coming with the clicking of her heels. I think every time you hear her heels, you stand frozen in terror.

For some reason Ms. McKinty would come in every morning with a carrier of four really tall cups of Starbucks coffees. Those were all for her. And I would sit there and think, 'Not even my mom loves coffee that much and she's the biggest coffee addict that I know."

I'm not joking, my mom drank so much coffee that it sometimes makes her sleepy.

There was a rumor that a student from the year before accidently knocked over one of her Starbucks and she got so mad that she threw the student out the open window and got suspended for that. Naturally I got stuck with this teacher while my own twin got the one that took her class out for a weekend camping trip (with permission of course) before the end of the school year to teach about the ecosystem.

My sister refused to go because she thought it was unfair.

Sometimes I wonder if she resented me for her not going. She said she'd rather sit at home and read a book than go without me.

However, in Ms. McKinty's class, we had snack time. No one else had snack time. I think she gave us snack time as a break so she can go to the restroom after all that coffee while we were all distracted with eating.

But this day I had packed myself some apple slices and caramel and some cheese sticks in a small lunch bag with a small ice pack. I was excited for my snack.

She would say, "It's time for snack snack" between 10:30 or 10:33.

But it was 10:35 and for some reason that was sitting right with me.

Ms. McKinty would know when you weren't paying attention. I know one boy was trying hard not to fall asleep in class once and Ms. McKinty shrieked, "Joshua!" She cleared her throat, "I mean, Josh, can you tell me what the difference is between a colon and semi-colon?"

I tried hard not to get caught looking, but I glanced at the clock and it was 10:45. I thought I would nicely reminded Ms. McKinty about snack time, so I reached in my backpack, took out my lunch bag and took out a cheese stick.

As if she had eyes on the back of her head, she whirled around on me, because she was facing the whiteboard.

I whispered, "Can we have snacks now?"

Ms. McKinty came over to me, her heels clacking and got up very close to me and hissed out, "No."

I got a wave of straight up coffee breath which made my eyes stream. For a moment, I thought she was going to kiss me. I definitely didn't want my first kiss to be with Ms. McKinty.

Eventually she did let us have snack time but it was at eleven instead. I was so upset that I didn't even get to enjoy my apple slices and caramel and cheese sticks.

Why am I telling you this?

I might as well start off my 'Where I Cried in Public' journey with these three stories of where I cried in public. 

Thankfully school ended and when Rory and Rosanna trudged outside, Lorelai was drinking coffee by the jeep, waiting for them.

"Mm, hey you two," Lorelai said. Rory dropped her backpack and went over and hugged Lorelai. "Oh."

Rory asked, "So, I think Roxie had the right idea. This whole plaid-skirt thing...my idea?"

"My day sucked, too," Lorelai said.

"Promise?" asked Rory.

"Swear on my mother's life," Lorelai said, starting to pull back from the hug.

Rory held on tighter, "Not yet."

"Ooh, still hugging, still hugging," Lorelai said. They finally pulled apart, "So, I brought us some coffee."

"That's a shock," Rosanna said.

"Triple caps, easy foam," Lorelai said.

"Wow," replied Rory.

"And if that doesn't work, we'll stick butter knives in a light socket like Roxie did when she was five. Come here," Lorelai said, picking up Rory's backpack and staggered under the weight. "Wow. What? Do they expect you two to get smart all in one day?"

"Oh they expect something out of us all right," Rosanna replied darkly.

"Well, so tell me," Lorelai said.

Rory got in the backseat because Rosanna had sat in the back on the way there, so it was Rosanna's turn in the front.

"I don't know," Rory explained. "It was just one big, long, scary, tweedy, bad eight hours."

"Add some hairy spray and you've got my day," Lorelai said.

"One of the girls already hates me, the guys are weird," Rory continued.

Lorelai asked, "Weirder than other guys?"

"Yeah, they kept me calling us Mary," Rory replied.

"You're kidding me," Lorelai said. "Wow, I can't believe they still say that."

"Why?" asked Rory. "What does it mean?"

"Mary, like Virgin Mary," Lorelai said. "It means they think you two look like a goody-goody."

"Wow," Rosanna replied. 

Rory said, "You're kidding."

"No," Lorelai replied.

Rory asked, "Well, what would they have called us if they thought we looked like sluts?"

"Well, they might have added a Magdalene to it," Lorelai said.

"Wow, biblical insults," Rory said. "This is an advanced school."

The only upside was no more Brad. 

"Oh man," Rosanna said.

Lorelai asked, "What?"

"I didn't get my pen back," Rosanna said.