Champagne Problems | Gilmore Girls

Connecticut Part I

"You're here!" Rory called out excitedly a few days later when Serena's car pulled up and her sister got out.
"I am." Serena agreed, hugging Rory. "I dropped off my stuff in Hartford and then came straight here."
"I don't know why you won't stay here," Rory complained. She was excited to have Serena around for two whole weeks, but she wished her sister would be in Stars Hollow with them instead of staying with the Haydens.
"I have my own room there," Serena pointed out, "I love you, Ror, but I hate sharing space."
Rory had to concede the point. Especially since her room was tiny. "But we'll see you every day?" She figured that with Serena's friends away at Yale, she had a better chance of monopolizing her sister's time.
"Pretty much," Serena assured her. "I mean, stuff might come up, but I plan to be here as much as possible and I'll sleep over at least once."
Rory grinned. "Ok." They headed towards the house.
"I can pick you up after school some days," Serena offered.
"You just want an excuse to antagonize Paris." Rory accused. "She and I are almost civil, please don't ruin that."
Serena just smirked. "Anything fun going on at Chilton?"
"We're acting out a scene from Romeo and Juliet," Rory told her with a sigh, "the whole Shakespeare class is doing it. We're Act 5. We just got assigned today."
"Sounds like fun," Serena said when a smile. "When's the big performance?"
"A week from Sunday," Rory told her. "So you can come."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Serena assured her. "Who are you working with?"
"Paris, Madeline and Louise," Rory said with an eye roll. "Plus one or two people from the other English class."
"Hopefully some boys," Serena said with a laugh. "Unless you're going for an edgy, alternative interpretation of the classic."
Rory laughed. "We're getting together on Saturday for practice so Paris can consult with Mom over costumes. Tomorrow we have a group meeting."
"Does Mom know she's a costume designer?" Serena asked.
"Not yet," Rory admitted, "but you know she'll be up for it. Do you want to come to hang out and watch rehearsal on Saturday?" She knew Paris would hate it, but she was willing to have that fight to spend time with her sister. Rory knew Paris and that this play was going to dominate everything they did and she only had limited time with her sister, so she was going to combine the two.
"During the day?" Serena asked. "I have plans in the evening."
Of course, she did. Rory figured she should be surprised, but this was Serena. Her life was a constant whirl of social activity.
"Yeah, bright and early Saturday morning," Rory told her.
Serena made a face but then nodded. "Sure. I'm eager to see your dramatic prowess."
"And bug Paris." Rory teased.
"And bug Paris." Serena agreed. "Did you tell her I was visiting or will it be a surprise?"
"It will be a surprise," Rory assured her. She found it difficult enough to deal with Paris and had wanted to navigate the minefield of Serena's return. She'd much rather do it with Serena around since Serena was much better at dealing with Paris and got so much enjoyment out of bothering her.

__________________________

The next day, Rory searched the cafeteria and found Madeline and Louise and a boy she didn't know.
"Where's Paris?"
Madeline rolled her eyes. "She'll be here in a minute. She said she had to get some things."
Rory was curious what those things were since they were all supposed to consult about what vibe they wanted, but this was Paris, so that was probably a pipe dream. Rory turned to the boy she didn't know. "Hi, I'm Rory."
"I'm Brad." He said with a nervous smile. "From the third-period class."
"He's the answer to our lack of boy problem," Louise said with an eye roll, "isn't that swell?"
Rory gave her a look, Brad might not be heartthrob material, but he seemed very nice. "Shouldn't we get started?"
"Without Paris?" Madeline squeaked.
"Ooh..." Louise said, "that could be lethal."
"We could at least decide on what motif we want to do." Rory pointed out. Picking out a theme without Paris might mean the rest of them got a say.
At that moment, Paris approached. "We're doing traditional Elizabethan."
Or maybe not.
"Elizabethan?" She questioned. "But I thought the point of this was to..."
"The point is to get an A, not to make Romeo and Juliet into a Vegas lounge act," Paris said curtly. "Besides, we have the death scene. It's classic, it's famous." She turned and stared at Brad. "Who are you?"
"I'm, uh, Brad. From the third period Shakespeare, ma'am." He stuttered.
Rory felt bad for him. Paris was terrifying.
Paris nodded and then turned to the group. "Okay. Now I want everyone to read the chapters on acting I photocopied out of Houseman's Memoirs tonight. Everyone will be off book by next Friday, and if you plan on missing rehearsal, you better bring a coroner's note." She turned to Brad. "We're shot on boys, so you're Romeo. Louise, you can play the Friar."
Rory stifled a giggle at Louise's offended expression. "Excuse me?"