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1.8

The bell rang to Luke's and she made her way to the counter, sitting patiently waiting for him to get to her. 

"Hey kid." He greeted gruffly, "What do you want?" 

"Hot chocolate please. And how are you at advice?" Gabby asked desperately. 

"Nope. Don't drag me into your Gilmore girl drama." Luke pointed his pen at her and then turned to make her drink, "It's bad enough for me that I get dragged into your sister's life, I'm sure that I don't want to be involved in yours too." 

"Please?" Gabby begged, "I have nobody in this town." 

"Don't start with the sob story." Luke threatened, passing a big mug of hot chocolate to her. 

"Marshmallows? Or I will start talking about my school life and how I was adopted." Gabby threatened back, smiling sweetly. 

"Of course, your highness." Luke snorted, adding a handful of pink marshmallows to the liquid. 

"Thank you." She smiled widely and sipped the sweet beverage, praying that it would dissipate the nerves still settled in her stomach. "You really won't give me any advice?" She groaned. 

"Unless it's about fishing or burgers, I am not your man." 

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"Decent effort by most." Mr Medina's voice commanded everyone's silence as he walked around the classroom, handing out people's tests. "Good effort by some, exceptional effort by two. Miss Geller, Miss Grant." He smiled at the two, Paris smiling smugly. He handed Rory her paper, and she quickly hid the red grade. Gabby watched in concern at her niece's expression as Mr Medina continued, "Ms. Graham. Miss Gilmore, take these home, learn from your mistakes. Look at the large red circles around various parts of your paper as friendly reminders that to err is human. And that here at Chilton we try to beat that humanity right outta ya!" He chuckled and surveyed the expectant class. 

 "Ok, next up. The test - the dreaded test. Shakespeare! The man we've been droning on about for the last three weeks, finally comes back to haunt us on Friday. This is a big one my friends - multiple choice with an essay section that will count for 20% of your grade for this semester. And don't be fooled by my kind face and charming personality. This test will be hard, and there will be no makeups." He told them just as the bell rang, students starting to pack up, "Refer to the study materials that I gave you at the beginning of the month and those extensive notes I know you've been taking." 

Although they were on the other side of the classroom, Gabby could hear Paris teasing Rory, and Madeline and Louise joining in. Grabbing her bag, she was about to go over when Mr Medina stopped her. 

"Gabriella, can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked and it was then she realized he hadn't given  her test back. 

"Yeah, of course." She smiled and watched out of the corner of her eye as Rory walked out, taunted by Paris, who left after her. Mr Medina walked back round to his desk, grabbing two papers. 

"I wanted to congratulate you on your test first of all, and give it to you privately. There are a few notes, nothing big but to basically push you towards what you will need next year concerning structure and quotes." He started, handing her the first paper which was emblazoned with a large A plus on the front. 

"Thanks sir." She smiled, "I'll go through it tonight." 

"And secondly, to give you this. It's a parental consent form for a trip in two weeks time to Washington. Very selective, only two people per year go. One who the staff think would benefit from some extra help in the English department, and one who the staff think would really enjoy the general experience." Mr Medina explained as Gabby scanned over the form, "It would be four days, just visits to museums and libraries and monuments, that sort of thing. Just let me know by tomorrow, okay?"