Bullying Rory Gilmore: Rory's 16th

Chapter 2: Capturing Rory

As soon as the bell went for the end of the school day, the three bullies had made their way to Rory's classroom and waited patiently outside for her to finally finish packing up her books and finish a last, cosy little chat with her teacher.

The teacher left the room first, then Rory. As soon as she saw Allison and Becky, she tried to walk away quickly. Those two had given her scary looks before and she wanted to avoid them.

But she knew Jackie, and wondered why her younger friend was hanging out with those two mean girls. She hoped that Jackie was OK, but she had to focus on her own survival right now.

Quickening her step accordingly, Allison stopped Rory in her tracks by grabbing on to the skinny girl's backpack with both hands and said:

"Wait, you need this, don't you?"

There was no response Rory could give to that. Having her schoolbag taken off her would be the end of the world for someone so dedicated to her studies and hoping for a university career at prestigious Harvard.

"Now," said Allison commandingly, "You are going to come with us. We are going down to one of our favourite places in the basement that we want to show you."

"But - but - my mom is waiting for me at home," Rory squeaked in her most high-pitched tone that always emerged when she was nervous.

"Aww, is she?", Allison taunted. "Did you hear that, girls? 16 years old today and has to do as her mom says!'

Jackie and Becky couldn't stop giggling, while Rory went bright red. She was mortified. She knew it wasn't good if bullies found out it was your birthday, even at posh Chilton.

She thought to herself: How could they know it was her birthday? How could this be happening to her? Was Jackie actually a bully?

"It's your 16th so surely you want to spend it with your friends? Oh wait, she hasn't got any!" teased Becky.

Rory pouted slightly and looked upset, so Becky continued:

"So you're spending your birthday with your mommy. What a loser."

Becky, a beautiful brunette and a bit shorter than Allison, was probably the strongest, meanest and most self-assured of the three, with very solid arms and legs, yet slim with curves in all the right places. Like Allison, she was at the top of the social ladder and was the kind of girl who would never get bullied.

Rory wanted to just run away from them all, but something was telling her that wasn't going to work with this group of girls.

There was something very determined about their demeanour. It was either that, or Rory was just drawn to their powerful, commanding energy.

With her easygoing, 32-year-old mom Lorelai, Rory lacked a strong authority figure in her life who'd give her orders she couldn't argue with.

And when Allison had said, "You are going to come with us", in that uncompromising tone of voice, something about it really appealed to Rory.

At the same time, she was aware of the clear and present dangers, so she wasn't rushing to do what they said. But she was in limbo at that moment, hoping to find a way out but also contemplating just giving in to them.

Ramping up the pressure, Allison, still holding Rory in place by her backpack, warned the victim: "If you don't walk right down there with us now, like a good girl - and without any fuss - we can make your life hell for the rest of our time in this school."

Rory was trying not to show any reaction to her new tormentor, but she visibly winced.

Allison continued: "If you give us reason to, we can bully you so much."

"And we'll do it every day", little Jackie chipped in.

Well, that answered Rory's question - Jackie was a bully. She couldn't believe it though. Maybe Jackie was being forced to do this, she thought to herself.  

Allison: "Yes, that's right Jackie, every day if we want to. This school loves us, so the teachers will turn a blind eye anyway."

It was true that Allison and Becky could pretty much do no wrong in this school. Both on the school hockey team, they regularly triumphed in inter-school tournaments and got Chilton recognised across the state as one of the best for hockey.

Being Becky's cousin pretty much gave Jackie a get out of jail free card too.

While Allison and Becky weren't the brightest academically, their sporting achievements earned them a lot of power and social status in the school. For Jackie, hanging out with these two older girls made her feel so powerful. She was their "trainee" and she was happy to learn from them.

Rory was still in silence following Allison's last remarks and couldn't see any clever way out of this. What could she say back, or do? Like Allison said, if she tried to get away from them, they'd just get her another day - if not every day for the next year.

Rory looked pleadingly at Jackie a few times, but was shocked to only get cold stares back from her. It looked like her lunch room friend did have another side to her. 

As far as Rory could see, she had no choice but to give her full co-operation now. And, something about submitting to their will just felt right to her anyway.

But, had she known the cruelty that was in store for her once they got her alone later, it might have made her more determined to run away...