𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐖𝐎 . . . 𝘈 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘋𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘦
❝ You want to bring him and the witch to that sacred place? ❞

  WEDNESDAY ROLLED AROUND far too quickly for Charlie Gilmore's liking. The Gilmore household had been tense, to say the least, and Charlie would have to be blind to not see Lorelai's concern over Rory Gilmore's clear-as-day liking to Jess Mariano.

  And, her blatant disregard for her boyfriend's worries.

  "Hey, how's your English project going?"

  Charlie Gilmore sighed, shutting her locker door only to reveal Emma Woodard. The girl looked rather sheepish behind the heavy textbooks piled in her arms, attempting to smile at Charlie.

  "What, are you robbing the library?"

  "Doing a favor for Mrs. Leighton," Emma said.

  Charlie nodded, hooking her backpack around her shoulders and holding out her arms, accepting half of the stack from Emma.

  "So, how was the auction?" Emma questioned as she began walking, Charlie in tow.

  Charlie let out a long breath, and that said all Emma needed to know.

  "Alright, so who won your basket?"

  "Jess," Charlie stated, maneuvering to open the heavy door to the library, "After Dean and Liam both bid on it."

  "Dean?"

  "Apparently Rory told him about. . . you and Lee, and he felt bad."

  "Oh."

  "Yeah."

  The girls silently stacked the books on the library cart, thanking the librarian as she wrote them both passes for being late to their next class.

  "Are you and Liam. . . okay?"

  "Yeah," Charlie sighed out, "We're fine. He won Rory's basket, which was weird."

  "Wait, Liam bet on your little sister's basket? He bid on the spoiled, she-devil of the Gilmore family?"

  "Dean didn't bid at first, I guess he was distracted," Charlie shrugged, "This time, Liam felt bad. Rory said he tried to give the basket to Dean, but he just got mad."

  "Dean is such a. . . ugh."

  "Yep," Charlie mumbled, crossing her arms as they approached their math class, "Want to hear the thing that tops it all off?"

  "Stupid question, of course, I do."

  "Rory told me she likes Jess last night."

  Charlie smiled tightly as Emma Woodard turned red with anger. The girl put her hand on the doorknob, leaning onto it to push the door open. 

  Emma stewed in this anger all class, glaring at the back of Jess Mariano's head.

  "Hey, Satan-Spawn?"

  Charlie had to stifle a laugh as Jess jogged to catch up with the girls in the hallway of Stars Hollow Highschool.

  "I'll kick you," Emma threatened quietly.

  "I felt you staring-- I think there's a hole in my head now," Jess joked, rubbing the back of his head dramatically, "You two back to bein' friends?"

  "I guess so."

  "You're making things weird and I need to talk to Charlie about girl things, like menstrual cycles and--"

  Jess held up a single finger, cutting off Emma.

  "You're tryin' to scare me off and it's not gonna work."

  "It's fine, Mariano," Charlie spoke gently, smiling lightly, "We just want to talk about Rory, I'll catch you up, okay?"

  Jess sighed, nodding after a moment, before turning on his heel to walk in the opposite direction.

  "Is it, like, a mutual thing that made Rory think she has a chance, or just some weird, Rory moment?"

  "Weird Rory moment, from what I understand," Charlie sighed, "I mean, who wouldn't like him?"

  Emma laughed, shaking her head.

  "You're doing that laugh-thing."

  "You like Jess, don't you?"

  "No, I don't," Charlie scoffed, burying her discomfort, "Listen, he's just. . . it's like if Rory wanted to date Liam."

  "And, you like-- or, I guess liked, Liam."

  "I can see what your point is, but it's wrong."

  "Emma Woodard is never wrong."

  Charlie stared blankly for a long moment.

  "Okay, sometimes-- a lot, quite often, but really, I'm right about this, I can feel it in my bones."

  "The most reliable thing in your entire body."

  "Yeah, tell that to my early onset arthritis."

↬

  "You'll be at my debate, right?"

  Charlie jumped, spilling the sugar she'd just put into a shiny new container. The girl sighed, glaring at a sheepish Rory, grabbing a washcloth and sweeping the crystals from the counter.

  "It's Friday at 3:30."

  "Luke, can I have Friday off?" Charlie sighed, lulling her head towards Luke, "Rory is going to drag me to her stupid debate."

  "Don't let Paris hear you say that."

  "Yeah, because Paris is scarier than me," Charlie mumbled, "I'll be there."

  Rory grinned, returning to the table she and her mother had claimed.

  "Chilton debate, huh?"

  Charlie grumbled, departing to the stockroom to retrieve more ketchup.

  "Pea," Luke sighed, following the girl, "What is up with you?"

  "Nothing, just have to go to some stupid private school and be reminded yet again of my Grandmother's speech about how disappointed she was that I'm going to a public school."

  "You know, you never told me why you didn't end up going?"

  Charlie shrugged quietly, organizing the shelves.

  "I would look like a goon in that uniform," Charlie muttered.

  "The uniform? Seriously?"

  "It's really not important."

  "I'm just curious."

  Charlie sighed deeply, crossing her arms as she faced Luke.

  "Rory asked me not to."

  The man clearly did not understand.

  "My mom almost forced me to go. She didn't understand why I wouldn't go to a school like Chilton, since I want to go to Yale. But I just refused, and told her I didn't want to."

  "Because Rory asked you not to?"

  "Because Rory asked me not to."

  Luke Danes had seen many spats between the twins. He'd remained diplomatic, still on Charlie's side, but never outright taking a stand against Rory. 

  But the concept of Rory and Charlie both receiving offers to attend Chilton, securing their dreams of ivy league schools, and Rory Gilmore deciding it was hers, not Charlie's, and taking that away from Charlie.

  And that Charlie agreed. She sat back, let her sister have what they both wanted, and while the duo both attending a private school may not have taken anything away from the younger Gilmore, Charlie let it be.

  She gave it up because her sister asked her to.

  "Anyway," Charlie sighed, jarring Luke from his thoughts, "I'll work tomorrow and Saturday-- but I'll have to leave from school to get to the debate on time."

  "Hey, no problem, Pea," Luke said quickly, "I'll just make Jess take your shift."

  "Oh, come on, we both know Jess is no replacement for me."

  Luke scoffed, shaking his head.

  "Yeah, because you actually work."

↬

  Charlie, Sookie, and Lorelai arrived at Chilton and it was already buzzing with people. A part of the teen hadn't expected that many people to show up, not many came to the fifth-grade spelling bee.

  But then again, this was Chilton. Where grades were all that mattered and reputation was everything.

  "Hey, there you are. Where were you?" Lorelai walked up to her youngest daughter, "I thought we were gonna meet by the vending machines for a little pre-debate nondairy snack."

  "Yeah, sorry. Paris wanted to do a soundcheck and she found some problems with the acoustics in the room."

  As if on queue, Paris walked across the stage with workers, instructing people to move so the seats could be shifted. Rory suggested they find seats before Paris moved them all, before leaving the trio to themselves.

  "So, do you see Christopher anywhere?" 

  Charlie sighed quietly as her Mom and Sookie looked around the room.

  "Uh, well," Sookie shifted towards some seats while looking around, "No. . . no. . . no. Hey, what does he look like?"

  "If you don't know why are you looking?"

  "I'm looking for a guy that looks like a guy that you could be with, only I'm deducting 17 years off his age and I'm adding an all-boys private school uniform and a Yankees cap."

  "And does your head hurt?"

"Yeah, it does."

  The trio fell into silence as a woman announced it would begin soon. Students fell into their places on stage, as parents and friends did in the crowd. Despite the spat, the twins had a week prior, Charlie was still hoping her sister would pull through and win the debate.

  They were told the topic was 'Doctor-Assisted Suicide' which Sookie didn't seem too thrilled about. Charlie's mind wandered for a moment, wondering if her Dad would actually show up or not.

  When Rory was introduced, alongside Paris, both Lorelai and Sookie let out loud cheers. Rory look mortified, but a small smile and thumbs up from her sister calmed her nerves.

  Rory was up first, Paris had chosen to argue pro and as the girl had requested, Rory spoke quickly. Charlie was so focused on catching every one of her sister's words, she didn't notice her Dad.

  Paris was far more cutthroat with her debate, and for the first time, Charlie sort of liked the girl. Chilton won, no surprise to Charlie, she politely clapped before jumping out of her seat. Lorelai and Sookie wanted to catch a glimpse of the woman Christopher was with, but Charlie wanted to see her sister.

  "You were great." Charlie grinned as her sister approached, Rory seemed to forget all about their fight and happily hugged Charlie, "I mean, really great!"

  "Wait, you aren't mad still?"

  "Well, sort of," Charlie frowned, letting her sister go, "But you were great, and the last thing I want is a boy to get between the Gilmore twins."

  "Good." Rory smiled, the duo began walking towards their parents. And their parents' plus ones.

  Rory hugged Chris, while Charlie stuck to her mother's side. The man introduced Sherrie, the woman he'd been seeing. She was far too excited to meet the twins, at least in Charlie's opinion. Apparently, Chris talked about them a lot and Lorelai reassured the woman they lived up to the hype.

  Lorelai then pulled her daughters aside, leaving Sookie with Christopher and Sherrie. She questioned them, what they were supposed to do now, and thus it began.

  "Well, I guess it would be impolite if we didn't ask them to hang out with us."

  "So, what do we do, hit the vending machines?"

  "Invite them to Luke's?"

  "You want to bring him and the witch to that sacred place?" Charlie questioned with a wrinkled nose. 

  In her defense, Lorelai had jokingly been calling Sherrie a witch the entire time they'd been there.

  "She doesn't seem like a diner chick anyway," Lorelai sighed. "I wish he told me he was bringing her with."

  "Where else can we invite them?"

  "Al's Pancake World."

  "It's Friday he does his prix fixe menu on Fridays."

  "Well, there's always our house."

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
HEY HEY HEY! quick question,
who do y'all ship Charlie with?
in the first version there was
a pretty obvious divide between
team chess and team farlie,
but I wanna know what you
guys think! Jess, Finn, or
someone else?