❝FAMILY DISPUTES❞
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⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ chapter sixty-three,
Gilmore Girls — Season Three

𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝐧𝐝, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟑
―୨୧⋆ ˚ LUCY'S POV

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𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐎 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐓, and me and my dad made sure to really show our support. There was a ceremony where we applauded him, teased him endlessly, and then he finally skulked off to do some work. However, after the ceremony, the manager came over to speak to us and we discovered that Jess is working up to forty hours a week── full-time work.

  Now that I think about it, I've rarely seen Jess around school. Sure, he and I aren't in the same classes this year, but he's usually around. I've been distracted recently with being accepted to Yale and being congratulated every five seconds by a different faculty member. I haven't been able to keep track of myself never mind Jess.

  Part of me doesn't want to believe that he's working that many hours, not when he has school and a promise to my dad that he must graduate if he wants to keep staying here.

  There's just no way he's skipping that much school, right?

  I sit in the diner that morning before school, my hands wrapped around a coffee mug, and my eyes on Nicole and Dad. They've been dating for a few weeks now, and I think all is going well. I still have an... odd feeling about her, I can't even really explain it, but I haven't said a word to Dad about it.

Jess rushes downstairs, rounding the corner into the diner, and he nearly crashes into me. I look over at Dad who is walking over now that Nicole has left. "I gotta go," Jess says, moving past me.

I stare at him strangely and then at the clock. "Where?"

"School."

Dad looks over at me, and I shrug. "Oh, school, okay. Well, have a good day... at school." Dad doesn't think he's going to school, and if I'm being honest, I don't think he is either.

"I will." Jess leaves, and I walk over to the window to stand next to Dad.

From the window, we watch Jess walk towards school, pause, and then rush away from the door towards his car. I stare with unsurprised eyes, and Dad shakes his head, obviously disappointed because Jess has been lying to him for, well, I don't know how long.

I look up at Dad, offering him a smile, but I don't think he's in the greatest mood upon learning that Jess is breaking the agreement. All he has to do is graduate, and then he can do whatever the hell he wants, but now I don't even know if he's going to school enough to graduate.

Well, I'm going to make sure he does graduate.

And if I have to drag him out Walmart, kicking and screaming, I will.

After school, I decide to pay him a visit to do exactly that. Well, I'm not actually going to drag him out of Walmart but I am going to talk to him. If he wants to skip out on school to work, I need to let him know that it's a bad, bad idea.

We don't shop at Walmart often. In fact, we don't shop much at all because Dad just orders everything to the diner. Now while I'm not here to shop, I pop my head into a few aisles until I find the one person I'm looking for.

I stride up to him, jabbing my finger at his shoulder. He spins around, eyes wide, and he's unable to get a word out. "Hi. I'm looking for my cousin. He's about five foot, eight. Really grouchy looking face. Oh, and he's a giant liar."

He grabs my arm, moving me away from a few customers who eye us up. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask, releasing my arm. "You're supposed to be at school."

"I was at school," he lies.

"No, you weren't," I mock, stepping past him to grab a box of cereal because, conveniently, we're in an aisle full of all kinds of cereal. "Cereal hour. Talk," I demand, shoving the box into Jess' hands.

He takes it. "Five minutes."

"That's all I need."

  Ten seconds later, me and Jess are outside Walmart without the box of cereal because taking it outside would be classed as, well, stealing.

  If I'm being completely honest, I have no idea what I want to say to him. I guess I just want to know why he's skipping out on school for shifts here when education is important. If it's a money issue, my dad has already offered to give him all that he wants.

  "What do you want?" Jess asks, leaning against the nearest wall.

  "Why are you skipping school?"

  "I'm not──"

  "Cut the crap, Jess, I know you're skipping school. You're working here full-time, like, forty hours a week." He looks away from me, knowing damn well that I'm right. "So why?"

  He shrugs. "Just am."

  "You need to go to school."

  "I go enough."

  I scoff, knowing damn well that he does not go enough. "You barely go," I correct. "Jess, if you keep skipping school, they won't let you graduate."

  He shakes his head. "They will."

  "They won't," I argue.

  "They will," he insists.

  "No, they won't." He opens his mouth to argue with me again, and I raise a hand, smacking it against his arm. "They won't let you graduate, Jess, and you need to graduate."

  He rolls his eyes. "I don't need the speech, Luce. I'm graduating, alright?"

  "And what if you don't?"

  "I will."

  "Okay, hypothetically..." I raise a brow. "...what if you don't?"

  "Then I'll take the GED, okay?"

  "So that's your big, bright future?" I look to the building he leans against. "You're smart, Jess. You could do anything── be anything── and you don't even care."

  He pushes off the wall. "Well, it seems you're doing enough caring for the two of us." He pats a hand against my arm, and I hit him back.

  "I'm being serious, Jess."

  "Yes, I know." He skulks past me. "Now I need to get back to work. How about you and Luke yell at me later?"

  "Jess──"

  "Bye!"

  He walks away. "Bastard," I utter under my breath, turning away.

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          𝐈 𝐒𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓, 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐅𝐓 𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊. I peer over at Dad who I know wants to talk to him tonight. He doesn't know I went to Walmart as I didn't see the point in telling him.

"You're home late."

"Traffic," Jess replies, stepping into the room and throwing me a box of cereal. My lips upturn in an annoying smile, and Jess gives me a thumbs up.

I guess he and I are okay.

"So, you hungry?" Dad asks, looking at us strangely. He knows we get along, but I don't think he understands the extent of our odd bond. If I'm being honest, I don't know the extent of our friendship.

"I'm meeting Rory," Jess replies, moving to his dresser drawers.

"Want me to make you guys some sandwiches?" Dad asks, and I snort a laugh. While that idea is sweet, I don't think I'd ever let my dad pack up sandwiches to take on my dates with Tristan.

"So we can brown bag it on our date? I don't think so."

Dad nods, eyes moving to me, and I jab my finger in Jess' direction, indicating to him that he needs to talk to him now. Dad looks back to Jess who still has his back turned away from us. "How was work?" Dad asks.

"Smooth," I mouth.

"The cleaned-up version of The Eminem Show seems to be selling pretty well, so the world is basically coming to an end," Jess tells us.

Dad stands up, moving towards Jess who is now pulling a comb through his hair. "So listen, I, um, wanna talk to you about something," Dad begins.

"Talk," Jess says, not taking his eyes off the mirror as he continues to pull a comb through his messy hair.

"Could you stop grooming for just a second please?"

"I'm already late."

Dad sighs, and I nod my head, insisting he don't give up on talking to him. "Look, I was doing some thinking about your situation," he says, looking at Jess through the mirror.

"My situation?" he questions.

"Yeah, you know, you're working here, you're working at Walmart, you're dating Rory, going to school," he lists off. "It just seems like a lot..." Jess seems to be paying more attention to his freaking hair more than Dad. "You ever worry that if a bird flies into your head it might never get out again?" I grin, hiding my smile behind my hand.

"I've got everything under control," Jess replies, ignoring Dad's comment about a bird flying into his nest of hair.

"Yeah, I'm sure you do." Dad nods, crossing his arms over his chest. "I just thought maybe I could make things a little easier."

"How?"

"Well, I could, uh, give you a raise at the diner."

Jess scoffs. "A raise? Are you giving Luce one?"

I shake my head. "No," I reply, a little offended that Dad won't be giving me a raise, but he's given me more than enough.

"Yeah." Dad shrugs. "And maybe help out with some of the, you know, bigger money burdens, like your car insurance."

"Why would you wanna do that?"

"So you can quit your job at Walmart."

Jess turns to Dad, finally listening to him. "No way."

"But you'd still be making money, and this way, you'd get to spend more time on Rory and school." He needs to spend more time on school, and even if he doesn't care, he needs to graduate.

Jess turns away. "I'm fine," he insists.

"Jess, come on."

"No."

"Jess, just take the deal."

"I have to change." Jess sidesteps him, moving towards the bathroom.

Dad spins around, facing him again. "I know you're not going to school."

"Smooth," I comment, offering him an A-OK.

Jess glares at me. "Yeah, I know. Lucy told me."

Dad looks over at me. "What?"

"Bastard," I utter. "I went to Walmart to tell him that he needs to go to school."

"And I told her that I go enough."

"What does that mean?" Dad asks, looking back to Jess.

"It means I go enough," he repeats. "It's public school. My history teacher is also the football coach, get the picture?" He isn't wrong about the history teacher being the football coach, but that's not an excuse.

  "Jess, we had a deal. You go to school, you graduate."

  He nods. "I know. Relax. I got it all under control. I have to change." He steps away, and Dad moves to sit down on my bed beside me.

  "He has it under control, right?"

  I want to believe that Jess has it under control. I really want to believe that he'll have this all figured out── that I'm wrong, and he is going to school enough, but I really don't know what to believe.

  But I need to reassure my dad nonetheless so I just lie and say, "Yeah."

The next morning, Jess' car goes missing, and I suspect Luke Danes has something to do with that, but I don't say a damn thing.

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authors note:

very short, very quick chapter

just needed to write this part to explain that luke steal's jess' car and he works too much bcos we'll be saying goodbye to him soon